Manage another person's mail and calendar items

Applies To: Outlook 2016 , Outlook 2013 , Office for business

There are two ways to work with another person's Outlook folders — sharing folders and entrusting someone to act on your behalf.

NOTE:  An Office 365 for business or other Microsoft Exchange-based account is required. For more information, see What is a Microsoft Exchange Server account?.

Folder sharing lets other people access one or more folders. However, it does not include permissions for them to act on your behalf. For example, a person who can access your folders can’t reply to email messages or respond to meeting requests for you.

Using Delegate Access , you can give someone permission to act on your behalf. For example, you might have an assistant that you want to create and respond to meeting requests for you. Some assistants might also monitor a manager's Inbox and send email on behalf his or her behalf.

NOTE: The procedures in this article assume you have granted someone Delegate Access permissions. For more information about delegate access, see Allow someone else to manage your mail and calendar.

Add another person's mailbox to your profile

If you frequently work with someone else's Exchange folders, you probably will want to add the other person's Exchange mailbox to your Outlook profile. Doing so will automatically open the other person's mailbox every time you open Outlook. The other mailbox appears in the Folder Pane beneath your Exchange mailbox folders.

NOTE:  The person who is sharing a mailbox must grant you Folder visible permission on the root folder of the Exchange mailbox.

Instructions for granting Folder visible permission

As the manager, do the following in Outlook:

1. Right-click the root folder of the Exchange mailbox, and click Folder Permissions.
2. Click the name of the delegate.
3. Under Permissions, under Other, select the Folder visible check box.
4. Click OK.

As the delegate, do the following in Outlook:

1. Click File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
   
2. On the Email tab in the list, click the Exchange account type, click Change, and then click More Settings.
3. On the Advanced tab, under Open these additional mailboxes, click Add, and then enter the mailbox name of the person whose mailbox that you want to add to your user profile. If you do not know the mailbox name, ask the person who granted you Delegate Access permissions.

Open another person's folders

1. Click File > Open & Export > Other User's Folder.
   TIP:  To avoid this step in the future, see the instructions on how to add another person's mailbox to the Folder Pane in the Add another person's mailbox to your profile section of this article.
2. In the Name box, enter the name of the person who granted you Sharing or Delegate Access permissions, or click Name to select from a list.
3. In the Folder type list, click the folder that you want to open.

Send or respond to meeting requests on behalf of another person

To give the delegate sufficient permissions to accept meeting requests for the manager, the manager must do the following:

1. Click File > Account Settings > Delegate Access.
2. Click Add, then type or select, the delegate’s name, and then click Add.
3. Do one of the following:
   • In the Delegate Permissions dialog box, give the delegate Editor (can read, create, and change items)permissions in the manager's Calendar folder.
   • Click OK to close the Delegate Permissions dialog box, then select the check box at either My delegates only, but send a copy of meeting requests and responses to me or My delegates only.

To respond to meeting requests

1. Open the other person's Inbox if his or her meeting requests are not sent to you directly.
2. Open the meeting request.
3. Click Accept, Tentative, or Decline.

To send a meeting request

1. Open the other person's calendar.
2. On the Home tab, in the New group, click New Meeting.
3. Enter the attendees, subject, location, and start and end times as you ordinarily do.

Create or reply to an email message on behalf of another person

1. In Mail, click Home > New Email.
   

1. On the Options tab, in the Show Fields group, click From.
2. In the From box, type the name of the person on whose behalf you are sending the message.
   To select the name from a list in the Address Book, click From.
3. Add recipients, a subject, and the contents of the message as you typically do.

To reply to an email message

1. In the other person's mailbox, select the message that you want to reply to on behalf of your manager.
2. Click Home (If you have opened the message, click Message), and then click Reply, Reply All or Forward.
   

1. On the Options tab, in the Show Fields group, click From.
2. In the From box, type your manager's name. To select the name from a list in the Address Book, click From. If you don’t see the From button and box, click Options > From.
3. Add recipients, a subject, and the contents of the message as you typically do.

Send an email message on behalf of a group

If you have been assigned Send As permissions for a group in your organization’s Address Book, you can send email and it will appear to be sent from that group.

1. In Mail, click Home > New Email.
   

1. On the Options tab, in the Show Fields group, click From.
2. In the From box, type the name of the group on whose behalf you are sending the message.
   To select the group from a list in the Address Book, click From.
3. Add recipients, a subject, and the contents of the message as you typically do.

Save sent items in another person's Sent Items folder

When email messages and meeting requests are sent by a delegate on behalf of a manager, a copy of each item is saved in the delegate's Sent Items folder.

As an alternative, the manager can grant permissions to his or her Sent Items folder to the delegate. The delegate can then move or copy the items from his or her own Sent Items folder to the manager's Sent Items folder.

The manager should do the following:

1. In the Folder Pane, right-click the Sent items folder.
2. Click Properties.
3. On the Permissions tab, click the name of the delegate.
4. Under Permissions, in the Permission level list, click Editor (can read, create, and change items).
5. Click OK.
   If you have added the manager’s mailbox to your profile, the manager's Sent Items folder appears in the delegate's Folder Pane under Mailbox - manager.