Embedded Files
Google Workspace allows everyone to freely delegate access to their data within the environment. Thanks to its modularity, you have unprecedented control over who can do what. Let's look at when delegation could be useful for you, what it has to offer and how to configure it.
You will feel more confident about your data and keep relevant people in the loop.
Handing over the keys to parts of the kingdom.
Gmail
Gmail
Let's start with the most powerful form of delegation: You can grant up to 1000 other people within the company access to your entire Gmail (that might trigger questions from security). Others will have access to your entire Gmail account (all emails), including
Reading and writing emails
Deleting emails and trash
Changing most settings.
Delegates can not manage delegation, edit your footer or use Chat or Meet on your behalf. Delegates will not get access to your contacts or your calendar, you need to delegate those privileges separately.
Delegating is very easy, yet requires the delegate to consent. To delegate, head over to your Gmail preferences > Accounts > Grant access to your account. The delegate will receive an email with a link to confirm.
Delegates can read emails sent from your account using Confidential Mode, but cannot read Confidential Mode emails you have received.
Granting access.
After someone delegates their Gmail to you, it can be accessed by going to Gmail, then clicking your profile picture. Selecting an account will open a new tab.
Above: To delegate, open Google Contacts and select from the menu.
Left: After someone delegates their contacts to you, find them in the Google Contacts menu.
Left: After someone delegates their contacts to you, find them in the Google Contacts menu.
Contacts
Contacts
Modern communication systems use Contacts for much more than emailing and separate the Contacts application from the email service. If you delegate your Gmail service to someone without also delegating your contacts, auto-complete will work for names in your company's contact directory, but not for the people the delegator saved in their private contacts list.
Like Gmail, Contacts knows a single privilege level for delegates: Delegates can read, add, edit and delete your contacts. Delegates do not have access to any labels you may have created.
Delegating contacts does not require delegating emails.
Calendar
Calendar
Google Calendar is the most modular of the three delegatable services. You already know that Calendar consists of layers, like panes of glass. You can delegate each of those layers separately - when people grant editing rights to their main calendar, they usually call it delegation. Everything else is called Calendar Sharing.
The permission level Make changes will enable delegates to see all details of all your entries, even those you mark as private. That is usually a plus - private is not supposed to be used for your private events (you should use your private Google account for that, then delegate access to your professional account). Instead, private events should be confidential corporate events. Since delegates are assumed to be in your circle of trust, and they usually do need to manage, even create confidential events, it may be time to rethink the meaning of private if you delegate.
To delegate, open Calendar > Settings > Settings for my calendars > [Your name] > Share with specific people. Select the appropriate level.
After someone delegates their primary calendar to you, find it as an additional layer under My calendars.
I hope this post was helpful and delegation became less mysterious. There is a lot you can delegate, and while the mechanisms to delegate and to access vary, the outcome is the same. It is a simple procedure that allows you control at all stages. (How about some use cases?) Here is to delegating fearlessly - thank you for reading!
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