Manage another person's mail and calendar items

This feature requires you to use a Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, Exchange Server 2003, or Exchange Server 2007 account. Most home and personal accounts do not use Microsoft Exchange. For more information about Microsoft Exchange accounts and how to determine which version of Exchange your account connects to, see the links in the See Also section.
There are two ways to work with another person's Microsoft Outlook folders — folder sharing and Delegate Access.
If you are a delegate and routinely respond to e-mail messages and meeting requests on behalf of someone else, you may want to add his or her Exchange mailbox to your account for quick access.

In this article

• About working with another person's folders
• Add another person's mailbox to your profile
• Open another person's folders
• Respond to meeting requests for another person
• Create meeting requests on behalf of another person
• Create an e-mail message on behalf of another person
• Reply to an e-mail message on behalf of another person
• Save sent items in another person's Sent Items folder
• Change where deleted items are moved

About working with another person's folders

Before you can work with another person's Outlook folders, that person must grant you permission to those folders. There are several ways to do this.
Delegate Access is an Outlook feature that allows one person to act on behalf of another Outlook user. The most common scenario in which this feature is used is a manager and his or her assistant. The assistant might be responsible for maintaining the manager's schedule, including creating and responding to meeting requests. Some assistants might also monitor their manager's Inbox.
Folder sharing is a way to provide access between two people, but it differs from Delegate Access because it does not include permissions for one to act on behalf of the other. Folder sharing is useful if you want someone to be able to access one of your folders, perhaps while you are on vacation, but you do not want the person to reply to meeting requests or e-mail messages on your behalf.
This article assumes that the delegate already has Delegate Access permissions. Find links to more information about how to grant Delegate Assess permissions in the See Also section.
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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 each time you open Outlook. The other mailbox appears in the Navigation 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. The shared mailbox usually appears as Mailbox - user name.
Instructions for granting Folder Visible permission
As the delegate, do the following in Outlook:

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. In the list, click the Exchange account type, and then click Change.

3. Click More Settings, and then click the Advanced tab.
4. Click Add, and then enter the mailbox name of the person whose mailbox 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.

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Open another person's folders

1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click 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 Navigation Pane in the Add another person's mailbox to your profile section.

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.

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Respond to meeting requests for another person

When a manager selects the Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me check box on the Delegates tab (Tools menu, Options command), the delegate is granted sufficient permissions to accept meeting requests for the manager.
However, if the Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me check box is not selected, a delegate must have both Editor (can read, create, and modify items) permissions in a manager's Calendar or Tasks folder and at least Reviewer (can read items) permissions in the manager's Inbox.

1. Open the other person's Inbox if his or her meeting requests are not sent to you directly.

 Tip   To avoid this step in the future, see the instructions on how to add another person's mailbox to the Navigation Pane in the Add another person's mailbox to your profile section.

2. Open the meeting request.

3. Click Accept, Tentative, or Decline.

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Create meeting requests on behalf of another person

1. Open the other person's calendar.
2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Meeting Request.
3. In the To box, type the names of the attendees, or click To to select from a list.
4. In the Subject box, enter the subject of the meeting.
5. In the Location box, enter the location of the meeting.
6. Enter the start and end times for the meeting in the Start and End boxes.
7. Select other options that you want.

 Note   Find links to information about how to create meeting requests in the See Also section.

8. Click Send.

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Create an e-mail message on behalf of another person

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Mail Message.

Keyboard shortcut  To create a new e-mail message, press CTRL+SHIFT+M.

2. In the From box, type the name of the person you are sending the message on behalf of.

To select the name from a list in the Address Book, click From.

If you do not see the From button and box, on the Options tab, in the Fields group, click Show From.

3. Add recipients, a subject, and the contents of the message as you normally do.
4. Click Send.

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Reply to an e-mail message on behalf of another person

1. If you have already opened the other person's Inbox folder, skip to step 3.
2. To open another person's Inbox folder, do one of the following:

• Open as another user's folder    

1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Other User's Folder.
2. Type the name of the person you are sending the message on behalf of, or click Name to select the name from the Global Address List.
3. Click OK.

• Add the other user's folder to your Navigation Pane    

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. On the E-mail tab, click the Exchange account, and then click Change.
3. Click More Settings.
4. On the Advanced tab, under Mailboxes, under Open these additional mailboxes, click Add.
5. In the Add Mailbox dialog box, type the name of the other mailbox, and then click OK.
6. Restart Outlook.
7. In the Navigation Pane, select the other person's Inbox folder.

1. Select the message that you want to reply to on behalf of your manager.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Reply. If you have opened the message, on the Message tab, in the Respond group, click Reply, Reply to All, or Forward.

Keyboard shortcut  To reply to an e-mail message, press CTRL+R.

A new message window opens.

3. In the From box, type your manager's name. To select the name from a list in the Address Book, click From. If you do not see the From button and box, on the Options tab, in the Fields group, click Show From.
4. Add recipients, a subject, and the contents of the message as you normally do.
5. Click Send.

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Save sent items in another person's Sent Items folder

When e-mail 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; this behavior is by design.
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 after the delegate opens the manager's mailbox as an additional mailbox.
 Note   It is assumed you already set up Delegate Access.

1. The manager should do the following:
1. In the Navigation Pane, right-click the Sent items folder.
2. Click Change Sharing Permissions.
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 modify items).
5. Click OK.
2. The delegate should do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. Select the Exchange account, and then click Change.
3. In the Change E-mail Account dialog box, click More Settings.
4. On the Advanced tab, under Mailboxes, click Add.
5. Type the name of the manager, and then click OK.
6. Click Apply, click OK, click Next, and then click Finish.

The manager's Sent Items folder appears in the Navigation Pane under Mailbox - manager.

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Change where deleted items are moved

While acting as a delegate, if you delete an item in your manager's mailbox, the deleted item is moved to your Deleted Items folder. A registry setting is available that switches the destination of deleted items to the mailbox owner's Deleted Items folder. These procedures are provided for advanced users and administrators.
 Warning   If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Exit Outlook.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. Type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate the registry key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\General
5. Right-click DelegateWastebasketStylevalue, and then click Modify.

If the key is not present, do the following to create it:

1. Right-click the General folder in the path defined in step 4.
2. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
3. Type DelegateWastebasketStyle, and then press ENTER.

6. Change the value data in the Edit DWORD Value dialog box to one of the following values.

Value	Description
8	Stores deleted items in your folder
4	Stores deleted items in the mailbox owner's folder

7.  Note   Make sure that the delegate has at least Author permissions for the Deleted Items folder of the manager's mailbox. If the delegate does not have these permissions, and this registry option is set to 4, the item will be permanently deleted, or the delegate will receive one of the following messages:
   

• The item could not be deleted, it was either moved or already deleted, or access was denied.
• Operation Failed.

8. Exit the Registry Editor.
9. Restart Outlook.