Let a Colleague Handle Your Gmail While You’re Away
A stand-in needs last month’s quote and your last reply to the customer, not just tomorrow’s mail. How do you hand over your inbox without handing over everything in it?
- Use Gmail delegation when a colleague needs to find earlier correspondence and reply from your mailbox. Send the invitation from Gmail on a computer; after accepting it, your colleague opens your mailbox through their own account.
- Delegates can delete mail as well as read and send it. A project label does not restrict their access to that project. Forward selected messages instead if that is all you want to share.
- Delegates can read and reply in the Android and iPhone apps, but background message sync is unavailable. Agree when the colleague will open the inbox directly, and provide a separate contact route for urgent requests.
A colleague covering your leave may need more than tomorrow’s incoming messages. To answer a customer, they may need the previous quote, your last reply, and the change the customer requested afterward. Gmail delegation lets them work in the original mailbox using their own account, without you handing over your password.
That access is broad. Before setting it up, decide whether you are comfortable giving the colleague access to the mailbox or whether a few selected conversations would do. Once you choose delegation, prepare the work as well as the invitation: the person covering needs to know what they may answer, what needs approval, and what must be returned to you.
Choose between forwarding and mailbox access
For one pending request, forwarding the relevant conversation may be enough. Include the earlier agreement and explain what the colleague should do next. Delegation becomes more useful when they must search across several conversations and manage replies in your mailbox throughout your absence.
Automatic forwarding delivers copies of new messages to another address. It does not give the recipient access to the original inbox. You can use a filter to forward selected incoming mail after verifying the destination address, with account-wide forwarding switched off. Forwarding filters affect new messages; they do not send the historical correspondence your colleague may need. Replies must also match the filter’s criteria.
| Work to cover | Practical arrangement | Information to supply |
|---|---|---|
| A few outstanding requests | Forward selected conversations | The agreement so far and the next reply needed |
| New messages from a particular contact | Use a verified forwarding address and a matching filter | Earlier correspondence that the filter will not send |
| Ongoing correspondence across your mailbox | Add a delegate | Responsibilities, deadlines, and approval contacts |
A delegate can read, send, and delete mail. Do not treat this as read-only access or access limited to a label. A “Leave cover” label can gather the work, but it cannot hide unrelated messages from the delegate. If the mailbox contains correspondence you cannot share with that person, narrow the handoff to selected messages or discuss a separate approved team mailbox with your organization.
Check what a team address actually represents, too. An alias can deliver into someone’s primary account without having an independent mailbox. Google’s delegation guidance explains that aliases cannot have delegates because they are not Google Accounts. The address customers use does not, by itself, tell you which mailbox you would be sharing.
Send the invitation and open the delegated inbox
The owner adds a delegate from Gmail on a computer. Mobile access to delegated mail does not mean that the app can create the delegation. Follow the desktop setup instructions:
- Open Settings → See all settings → Accounts and Import, or Accounts.
- Under Grant access to your account, choose Add another account and send an invitation to your colleague’s address. Complete any identity verification requested.
- The colleague opens the invitation in their own Gmail on a computer and accepts it.
- They select the account marked Delegated from their profile menu. In the new tab, check the mailbox address before working.
The invitation expires after a week, and access can take up to 24 hours to become available. Arrange this while you can still help with the handoff. If the mailbox is missing, compare the invited address with the account your colleague is actually using and confirm that they accepted the invitation.
Work and school accounts have an additional requirement: the delegate must be in the same organization, and the administrator must allow delegation. Different email domains can belong to one Workspace organization. A contractor working with your team may still have an account in a different organization.
If setup fails, give your administrator both account addresses and the stage that failed. A missing Grant access section, an address rejected during setup, and an accepted invitation with no mailbox in the account menu are different observations. That description gives the administrator a useful starting point for checking Gmail delegation and the relevant organizational unit.
Check the sender identity and hand over the work
Do not promise the colleague that their identity will always be shown, or always hidden. For Workspace, the administrator can configure sender information to include both the owner and delegate or just the owner. Administrators can also allow users to customize that setting.
Before the first customer reply, ask the colleague to send a short message from the delegated mailbox to an internal recipient. Have that recipient inspect the sender details and reply. The colleague should then find the reply in the delegated mailbox.
The message body can clarify who is answering regardless of the sender display. For example: “I’m covering for Alex this week. I’ll confirm the delivery date with our operations team and get back to you this afternoon.” Use a deadline the colleague can meet. Permission to send mail does not decide who can approve a price change or commit the team to a new delivery date.
Agree on how to leave unfinished work. A read message might still be waiting for approval; an unread count cannot explain that. Google describes labels as a way to track message status in a delegated mailbox. A small team could use the following convention:
| Example label | When to use it | Handoff detail |
|---|---|---|
| Cover/To do | A request needs an answer | The question and its deadline |
| Cover/Approval | Someone else must confirm a decision | Who was asked and what remains unresolved |
| Cover/Replied | The required response has been sent | Any further commitment made in that response |
These are suggested labels, not automatic Gmail assignment rules. Agree to remove the previous status label when changing the status. If two colleagues are covering, divide the customers or work areas so that both do not independently answer the same request.
Prepare linked documents as well. Reading an email does not automatically give a delegate permission to edit a restricted Drive file mentioned in it. Use the file’s sharing settings to give the colleague’s account the appropriate role. They might need Viewer access to an old quote and Editor access to the handoff sheet. Ask them to open the actual links before your absence, and contact the document owner if you cannot grant access yourself.
Mobile access has changed; background sync is still limited
Older advice that Gmail delegation works only on the web is out of date. Google announced Android and iOS support on June 30, 2026, and added an August 21 update saying the rollout had resumed. After receiving access through the web setup, delegates can select the mailbox from their profile menu in the mobile app and read or compose mail.
A user moving a team from shared logins to delegation described repeated login verification requests, followed by uncertainty about how to use the delegated account on a phone. For someone covering while away from a desk, opening the mailbox on a computer is only part of the preparation.
If your colleague will cover from a phone, confirm web access first, then check the app they will actually use. Make sure it is signed into the invited colleague’s account, select the owner’s address, and open the prepared test conversation. If only mobile access is missing, report that distinction and the device and app details to the administrator. Arrange web coverage for urgent work while the mobile issue is investigated.
There is a remaining limitation that affects the handoff itself. As checked on October 28, 2026, Gmail Help lists background message sync and notification settings as unavailable for delegated accounts on mobile. Being able to open the mailbox and reply is not a promise that incoming mail will alert the colleague as their own inbox does. Agree when they will open the mailbox directly, and give urgent requests a separate contact route.
Close the handoff when you return
Start with the outstanding work. Review requests awaiting action or approval, then check whether any completed reply included a promise to send something later. A short list of customers, next actions, and dates is more useful than a total count of messages handled.
When the colleague no longer needs access, the owner should open Gmail’s Accounts and Import settings and choose Delete next to that delegate under Grant access to your account. This is the documented removal procedure. The invitation’s one-week expiry is an acceptance deadline, not a scheduled end date for access after acceptance.
Also close any separate arrangements used during the absence. End the vacation responder if it is still running. If you forwarded all new mail to your colleague, choose Disable forwarding under Forwarding and POP/IMAP, or Forwarding, and save the changes. For temporary rules covering particular contacts, edit or delete those rules under Filters and Blocked Addresses. Removing a delegate does not stand in for reviewing those settings. Return the remaining tasks to the person now responsible and pick up the conversation from the last reply the colleague sent.