Delegate Access in Microsoft 365 Outlook: How-To

Who This Affects and What It Fixes

This guide is for Microsoft 365 users who need to let a colleague read or send emails on their behalf—and for the colleagues receiving that access. Setting up delegate access in Outlook solves this without sharing your password or logging anyone into your account directly.

Granting Delegate Access

Complete these steps in Outlook as the person who is giving permission:

Open Outlook and go to File > Account Settings > Delegate Access.
Click Add and select the person you want to grant permissions to.
Set the permission level—choose whether the delegate can read your emails only, or also send emails on your behalf.

Using Delegate Access as the Delegate

Complete these steps after the other person has granted you access:

Check your inbox for a permissions email confirming the level of access you have been granted.
When composing a new email, look for the From field. You should see an option to send on behalf of the other user.

Removing Delegate Access

Complete these steps in Outlook as the person who originally granted permission:

Go to File > Account Settings > Delegate Access.
Select the delegate from the list and click Remove.

Need Additional Help?

If you run into any issues setting up or removing delegate access, contact the ACS support team and we will be happy to assist.

Common questions

Can a delegate send emails that appear to come directly from me, or will recipients see ‘on behalf of’?

When a delegate sends an email using the ‘Send on Behalf’ option in the From field, recipients will see that the message was sent on behalf of you. The delegate’s name will be visible alongside yours.

Will the delegate receive a notification when I grant them access?

Yes. Once you add a delegate and set their permissions, they will receive an email informing them of the level of access they have been granted.

If I remove someone as a delegate, do I need to notify them?

The procedure does not generate an automatic notification when access is removed, so it is a good idea to let the delegate know directly so they are aware their access has ended.