Gmail delegation: how to give someone access to another Gmail mailbox

Gmail delegation lets one person read, send, and delete mail in someone else’s mailbox without knowing the password. A Google Workspace admin turns it on in the Google Admin console under Gmail user settings, then the mailbox owner adds the delegate in their own Gmail settings. Delegated access covers email only.

Two rules decide half the support tickets, so learn them first. Delegation only works between users or groups in your own domain. And you can’t delegate an alias: Gmail Help says “You can’t add delegates to an alternate email address or alias because it’s not a Google Account.”

Why admins care about getting this right

Delegation is how an executive assistant runs a director’s inbox. It’s also one of the quietest access paths in Google Workspace, living in Gmail settings rather than your user list. Patronum’s offboarding checklist says to “Review auto-forwarding, delegates, aliases, shared mailboxes, calendar delegates, chat export settings, and file-share ownership” at exit.

Step 1: turn on mail delegation (admin side)

Delegation is off unless you allow it. Google’s Admin Help says to open Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > User settings, pick the organizational unit, and check “Let users delegate access to their mailbox to other users in the domain.” Two options sit alongside:

• “Allow users to grant their mailbox access to a Google group” delegates a whole group in one move, counted as one delegate. Powerful, and the setting that hides things: unless group membership is governed, nobody looking at the mailbox can tell who actually gained access.
• Sender information: “Show the account owner and the delegate who sent the email” or “Show the account owner only.”

Changes can take up to 24 hours.

Step 2: the owner adds the delegate (user side)

With that on, the owner does this in Gmail on a computer:

1. Click Settings > See all settings.
2. Open the Accounts (or Accounts and Import) tab.
3. Under “Grant access to your account,” click Add another account.
4. Enter the delegate’s address, click Next Step, then Send email to grant access.

Gmail Help states “The invitation expires after a week,” and “It can take up to 24 hours before a delegate can use your account.” It also warns “You can’t add delegates from the Gmail app,” so this is desktop only.

Step 3: do it centrally, at scale

Asking every director to walk their own Gmail settings is where this falls apart at scale. Patronum’s Delegate Access panel lets an admin add or remove delegates for a user, both directions: who opens this mailbox, and which mailboxes this person can open. Patronum’s documentation says “whatever you can configure for a single user manually, you can configure for multiple users via a Patronum Policy.”

Delegate limits, and what a delegate can’t do

Question	Answer (Google Workspace)
Delegates per mailbox	1,000 unique (10 on a personal @gmail.com account)
Active at once	About 40 under typical use
Does a Google group count	Yes, as one delegate
Who you can delegate to	Users or groups in your own domain only
Can you delegate an alias	No, an alias isn’t a Google Account
Does it add a license	Not on an existing employee’s mailbox. A dedicated mailbox account used for delegation needs its own license
Takes effect	Up to 24 hours

A delegate reads, sends, and deletes email. That’s it. Gmail Help says “A delegate can’t chat with anyone or change your password,” and delegates are blocked from Google Account settings, Chat in Gmail, Gemini in Gmail, and client-side encryption. On attribution, Gmail Help says “When a delegate sends a message from your account, their email address appears.” Treat that as the default rather than a guarantee, because the Step 1 sender information setting can show the account owner only.

Where people get this wrong

Delegation outlives the person. An assistant leaves, or the executive does, and nobody unpicks it. Because it was configured inside Gmail rather than the Google Admin console, it doesn’t surface in a normal leaver review. Three checks, every time someone exits:

1. Remove delegates from this mailbox. Every name under “Grant access to your account.”
2. Remove this user as a delegate elsewhere. The reverse direction is the one people forget, and Gmail gives the owner no list of it.
3. Review group-delegated access. If a group holds delegation, the leaver’s group membership is the access. Removing them from the group is the removal.

When the mailbox has to outlast the person, Patronum Archive retires the account and keeps its mail searchable in storage you own.

Delegation as a shared mailbox. If three people answer sales@, delegation is the wrong shape. A Google group costs nothing (Google’s setup FAQ says these addresses “are free and don’t count towards your Google Workspace user licenses”), keeps one shared history, and survives departures. Delegation dies with its account.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Gmail delegate see my Google Drive files or calendar?

No. Gmail Help states that delegating your inbox grants “permission to manage your email only.” Google Drive and Google Calendar have separate sharing settings you grant deliberately.

Do recipients know a delegate sent the email?

Usually yes. Gmail Help says the delegate’s email address appears when they send from your account. Admins can change that with “Show the account owner only” in Gmail user settings.

How many people can I delegate my Gmail to?

Up to 1,000 unique delegates on a Google Workspace account, with roughly 40 accessing it at once under typical use. A personal Gmail account is capped at 10.

Can an admin set up delegation without the user doing it?

Not in the Google Admin console alone, where you only enable the policy. Patronum can add and remove delegates for a user, and apply the same setup to many users by policy.

Managing delegation tenant-wide

If delegation in your organization is a spreadsheet plus goodwill, that’s the real problem, not Gmail. Patronum handles delegate access, signatures, groups, and lifecycle policy in one place. See Google Workspace management at scale, then the leaver path in offboarding automation.

Sources

• Google: Let users delegate access to a Gmail account – admin path, settings, 1,000 delegates, 40 concurrent
• Gmail Help: Delegate and collaborate on email – user steps, expiry, restrictions, attribution, 10 on personal accounts, no delegation of an alias, delegates must be in your organization
• Google Workspace setup FAQ – group addresses don’t count toward licenses
• Patronum Archive – retiring a leaver’s account while keeping mail searchable