Private vs Shared Mailboxes

Every mailbox you connect to Conversations is private by default. To share one, open the mailbox switcher at the top of the left rail in Conversations, click the ⋮ menu, and choose Sharing.

Mailboxes are private by default

When you connect a Gmail or Outlook account, that inbox is yours alone. Out of the box it is visible only to:

• The owner: the person who connected the mailbox.

• Company admins (Owners): they can always see every inbox in the company.

Nobody else on your team sees a private mailbox or the conversations inside it. You can connect up to 3 mailboxes per company, and each one is private until you decide to share it.

The lock icon

A private inbox shows a small lock icon next to its name in the mailbox switcher. That lock is your at-a-glance signal that the inbox is visible only to you and your Owners. Once you share the inbox with a teammate, the lock goes away.

The Sharing dialog

To share a mailbox, open the mailbox switcher, click the ⋮ menu next to the inbox, and choose Sharing. The Sharing option only appears if you are the owner or an admin. Those are the only people who can change who sees an inbox.

The dialog is titled Sharing followed by the mailbox name, and reminds you that inboxes are private until you share them, visible only to you and Owners.

Sharing is controlled simply by ticking people:

• Tick any teammate or role to give them access. As soon as one person is ticked, the inbox becomes shared.

• Untick everyone to make the inbox private again.

You always appear in the list as You, and you cannot remove your own access.

Who can see what

Access to a mailbox (and to every conversation in it) depends on your role and on how the inbox is shared:

• Owner (the person who connected the inbox): always sees it, and is the only non-admin who can rename it, disconnect it, or change its sharing.

• Admins (Owners): see every mailbox in the company, private or shared, and can manage any of them.

• A shared user: sees an inbox if it has been shared directly with them.

• A shared role: sees an inbox if it has been shared with a role they hold, so you can share with a whole team at once instead of person by person.

Everyone else sees only the inboxes they own or that are shared to them or their role. When an inbox is newly shared with you, you get a one-time You've been granted access notice so you know it has appeared in your switcher.

Related articles:

• Connecting Your Mailbox (Gmail & Outlook)

• Getting Started with Conversations

• How Roles and Permissions Work

• How to Manage Team Members