TL;DR: To delegate a Gmail account, open Gmail on a computer, go to Settings > See all settings > Accounts and Import (or Accounts), click “Add another account” under “Grant access to your account,” enter the person’s email and send the invitation. They must accept within a week, and access can take up to 24 hours. Personal accounts allow up to 10 delegates; work or school accounts allow up to 1,000, but only within the same organization. Delegates can read, send and delete mail, but can’t change your password or chat as you.
If an assistant, business partner or family member helps manage your email, learning how to delegate a Gmail account is far safer than sharing your password. Delegation gives someone access to your inbox through their own Google Account, so you never hand over your login, and you can remove them with one click. This guide follows Google’s official Gmail Help instructions.
What a Gmail delegate can and can’t do
| A delegate can | A delegate can’t |
|---|---|
| Read email in your account | Change your Google Account password |
| Send email from your account | Chat with anyone as you |
| Delete email | Be added to an alias or alternate address |
| Open your inbox from their own account switcher | Be added from the Gmail mobile app |
When a delegate sends a message from your account, Google says their email address appears on it, so recipients can see who actually sent it.
Gmail delegation limits
- Personal @gmail.com accounts: up to 10 delegates.
- Work or school accounts: up to 1,000 delegates. A Google Group counts as one delegate, according to Google’s Workspace admin guide.
- Simultaneous access: with typical use, about 40 delegates can be in the account at the same time. Heavy use, APIs or browser extensions that hit Gmail often can lower that number.
- Same limits as before: delegation doesn’t raise the account’s normal Gmail sending limits.
How to delegate a Gmail account: step by step
You’ll need a computer. Google says you can’t add delegates from the Gmail app. Before you start, Google may ask you to verify your identity, since adding a delegate counts as a sensitive change.
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- In the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
- Click the Accounts and Import tab (on work or school accounts it may be called Accounts).
- In the Grant access to your account section, click Add another account.
- Enter the email address of the person you want to add.
- Click Next Step, then Send email to grant access.
The person you added gets an invitation by email. The invitation expires after a week, and Google says it can take up to 24 hours before they can use your account.
How the delegate accepts and opens your inbox
Step 1: Accept the invitation
The delegate should look for an email with the subject “[Owner’s name] has granted you access to their Gmail account,” open it and click the confirmation link. If they wait more than a week, you’ll need to send a new invitation.
Step 2: Open the delegated inbox
- Sign in to their own Gmail account on a computer.
- Click their profile picture in the top right.
- Choose the account marked Delegated.
- A new tab opens showing your inbox. They should check the email address at the top to confirm they’re in the right account.
To switch back, they close that tab or pick their own address from the profile menu. Google advises against bookmarking the delegated inbox, because the access link can change. Mobile access to delegated accounts in the Gmail app for Android, iPhone and iPad is still rolling out, so it may not appear for everyone yet.
Delegating Gmail on a work or school account
Google Workspace accounts follow the same steps, with two differences:
- Same organization only. You can only delegate to people or groups in your organization.
- Your admin must allow it. If the option is missing or a colleague can’t be added, ask your admin to turn on delegation in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > User settings. Admins also choose whether sent messages show only the account owner or both the owner and the delegate who sent them.
For a team mailbox like sales@ or support@, Google also supports shared inboxes, which admins create and fill with delegates. In a shared inbox, anyone with access can add or remove delegates and set the “Mark as read” and “Sender information” options.
How to remove a Gmail delegate
- Open Gmail on a computer and go to Settings > See all settings.
- Open the Accounts and Import or Accounts tab.
- Under Grant access to your account, click Delete next to the person’s name.
Review this list every few months. Remove anyone who’s changed roles, finished a project or no longer needs access.
Troubleshooting: why can’t I add a delegate?
- You’re on your phone. Switch to a computer browser.
- You’re trying to delegate an alias. Aliases aren’t Google Accounts, so they can’t have delegates.
- The person is outside your organization. Work and school accounts only allow internal delegates.
- Delegation is turned off. Your Workspace admin needs to enable it.
- You’ve hit the cap. Personal accounts stop at 10 delegates.
- The invite expired. Resend it; invitations last one week.
Security tips before you delegate
- Only delegate to people you’d trust with your password; they can read and delete everything.
- Agree on rules for what they send in your name, and how they sign it. Our guide to CC vs BCC helps keep threads clean.
- Keep two-step verification on your own account.
- Never share your password as a shortcut. Delegation exists so you don’t have to.
Handing off your inbox is one part of a bigger skill. For the people side, see our 7-step guide to delegating tasks effectively.
Final word
Learning how to delegate a Gmail account takes about two minutes: Settings, Accounts and Import, Add another account, and send the invite. Your delegate accepts within a week, waits up to a day, and then opens your inbox from their own profile menu. You keep your password private, see who sent what, and can revoke access whenever you want.
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