How to Delegate Access in Outlook

Question

How to Delegate Access in Outlook

Jenna Carr 0

My boss needs to delegate access to me in his email inbox to be able to forward/answer emails on his behalf. Right now I have access to view and delete emails, but nothing else. When we've tried to go in (on both the app and web browser) to delegate access, it doesn't look like it's even an option.

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Jay Tr 12,120 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Jenna Carr,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for reaching out regarding your request to have delegate access to your manager's mailbox. According to your concern, please reach out to your IT admin and provide them with these steps:

Sign into Microsoft Exchange admin center with Global Administrator account.
Go to Recipients > Mailboxes > select your manager's account. Make sure the account has been assigned a proper license.

User's image

Move to the Delegation tab.

User's image

Under Send on behalf and Full access, select Edit.
Select Add member, look for your account.

User's image

Select your account and select Save.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out so I can continue to support you. If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Jenna Carr 0 Reputation points

2026-01-13T14:42:54.1433333+00:00

Thank you for your help! We are getting this message when trying to sign in to the MS Exchange admin center: "Your sign-in was successful but does not meet the criteria to access this resource. For example, you might be signing in from a browser, app, or location that is restricted by your admin."
Jay Tr 12,120 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-13T22:35:38.26+00:00
Hi @Jenna Carr,

Thank you for your update. I can totally understand how important for you to sign into Microsoft Exchange admin center and set up delegation for your manager's mailbox. However, the error message you are encountering typically indicates that there's a Conditional Access policy prevents you from signing into the Admin Center.

In this situation, I would recommend creating a support ticket with Microsoft Support by taking the following steps:

Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center with your Microsoft administrator account.

On right bottom corner click on "Help & support"

After that choose the "Contact support".

Fill out the required information in the form, including a description of the issue you are experiencing.

Click on the "Create" button to submit your request. Which will give them a ticket number.

Once your request is submitted, a support engineer will be assigned to your case and will contact your admin to provide assistance.

Note: We appreciate your understanding regarding the scope of support available through this forum. As moderators, our role is to provide general guidance and assist with common troubleshooting steps. While we do not have access to internal systems or administrative tools required to resolve account-specific or backend-related issues but we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.

For guidance on how to request support in the admin center, please refer to: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin.   

If you found my answer was helpful, I truly appreciate that you can marking it as accepted. This helps highlight the solution for others who may be searching for similar information in the community. Your contribution not only supports fellow users in finding the right guidance more quickly, but also helps build a more resourceful and collaborative space for everyone.

If you need any other assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out again and I would be happy to help you.
Jenna Carr 0 Reputation points

2026-01-14T17:11:54.7666667+00:00

Thank you for the continued help. But it is not letting either one of us log in to the Admin Center to be able to submit a ticket...
Jay Tr 12,120 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-15T16:31:08.0266667+00:00

Hi @Jenna Carr,

Thank you for the confirmation. I’m sorry to hear that you’re unable to sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to submit a support ticket.

Since the Conditional Access policy is blocking all administrator access to the Admin Center, this situation requires assistance from Microsoft’s Data Protection team. They are the only team authorized to validate tenant ownership and help remove or adjust Conditional Access policies when every admin is locked out.

Because you cannot access the Admin Centers to open a ticket, the recommended next step is to contact Microsoft Global Customer Service by phone using the numbers listed here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support.

Here are some tips and an example of a prompt to help you navigate the IVR more effectively:

In some countries, it is an automated conversation like:

IVR: What kind of problem are you concerned about?

You: Sign-in issue

IVR: What kind of product do you use?

You: Office 365 for business.

IVR confirmation: education or company account?

You: For companies

IVR: Are you an administrator?

You: Yes.

IVR: Do you have another administrator in your organization?

You: No.

Once the Data Protection team helps restore admin access and you are able to sign in to the Admin Center successfully, please proceed with the steps shared earlier to configure delegation for the manager’s mailbox. At that point, you should be able to complete the delegation setup directly from the Admin Center without further restrictions.

Please note that forum moderators do not have access to user account settings and cannot assist with logging in, resetting passwords, or changing access rights. While we do not have access to internal systems or administrative tools required to resolve account-specific or backend-related issues but we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.

I hope this helps you regain access to Microsoft Exchange admin center quickly. I'm glad to assist and truly hope the information provided has been useful. Please feel free to reach out anytime if you need further assistance.

Answer 2

AI answer

To delegate access in Outlook, your boss needs to follow these steps:

Open Outlook: This can be done either in the app or through the web browser.
Access Account Settings: Go to the account settings where delegation options are available.
Set Up Delegate Access: Your boss should select the option to delegate access. This may not be visible if the necessary permissions are not set or if they are not using the correct version of Outlook.
Assign Permissions: Ensure that you are granted at least Editor permissions on the mailbox. This permission allows you to create and respond to emails on behalf of your boss.
Save Changes: After setting the permissions, your boss should save the changes.

Important Notes:

Both you and your boss must have the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook installed.
If issues persist, ensure that the correct version of Outlook is being used and that all prerequisites are met.

If your boss is unable to see the delegate access option, it might be due to not having the necessary permissions or using an unsupported version of Outlook. They may need to check their Microsoft 365 plan and ensure that the required settings are enabled.

References:

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

Share via

How to Delegate Access in Outlook

2 answers

Important Notes:

Your answer