Give me delegate access to a Gmail inbox

Delegation is Google’s built-in way to let someone else work an inbox on your behalf. It is the safe alternative to sending me a password, and you can switch it off at any moment without changing anything else.

Do this

1. On a computer (this cannot be done from the phone app), open Gmail and sign in to the account that owns the inbox.
2. Click the gear icon in the top right, then See all settings.
3. Open the Accounts and Import tab. On a Workspace account it may be called Accounts.
4. Find the section Grant access to your account and click Add another account.
5. Type in the email address I gave you and click Next Step, then Send email to grant access.
6. Google sends me a confirmation link. Once I click it, access is live — this sometimes takes up to half an hour to appear on my side.

When it is done, you will see my address listed in that same section with the status next to it.

To remove it later

Same screen — Accounts and Import → Grant access to your account → delete next to my address. It takes effect immediately, and nothing else about your account changes.

If your screen looks different

Google moves this occasionally, and some Workspace administrators switch delegation off for the whole organisation. If you cannot find Grant access to your account, that is usually why — send me a screenshot of your Accounts tab and I will tell you what to do instead.