Manage delegates

This document explains how to delegate and collaborate on email using the Gmail API.

A Gmail user can grant mailbox access to one or more users in the same Google Workspace organization. The user granting access is the delegator and the user receiving access is the delegate.

Delegates can read, send, and delete email messages in your account. They can also view and add contacts. When a delegate sends a message from your account, their email address appears. For more information, see Delegate & collaborate on email.

Google Workspace organizations can use the settings.delegates resource to manage delegates within Gmail accounts in their organization. This requires a service account that has been delegated with domain-wide authority.

A delegate user must be referred to by their primary email address and not an email alias. Gmail limits the number of delegates for each user in a Google Workspace organization to a maximum of 25 delegates.

The settings.delegates resource contains more information on how to create, list, get, or delete delegates.

The settings.delegates resource includes a VerificationStatus object to indicate if ownership of an email address is verified for delegation. When creating a delegate using the settings.delegates.create method, the verificationStatus field is set to accepted without sending a verification email.