Microsoft Outlook :  Setting Delegates & Permissions

by Karyn Stille

It has become increasingly important for administrative assistants and secretaries to be able to check and reply to email, maintain a current calendar, and even keep up with a task list for their boss.  In addition, many executives today have a high mobility rate.  Are they in the office or out of the office?  In order for other key employees in the office to keep up with executive schedules, it is necessary for some to be able to view another person's calendar.  Microsoft Outlook provides easy access to these items right on the user's desktop by setting up delegates and permissions on the machines in question.

Note:  Delegates and permissions work only on machines which share a common server.  In other words, this only works on Outlook network installations such as you would find in an office setting.

Assigning Delegates and Permissions

The person who wants others to access his/her Outlook items (the delegator), must first give permission to those he/she wants to have access (the delegates) from within his/her own Outlook program.  With the proper permission, delegates can also send items on your behalf.  Therefore, this is also called "Send-on-behalf-of" permission.

At the DELEGATOR'S workstation:

  1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.

  2. In the Options dialog box, select the Delegates tab and choose Add.

  1. The Add Users dialog box is displayed and looks almost exactly like the box you would see when accessing your company address list.  Select the name of the delegate from the Global Address List and choose Add.

  2. Choose OK.  Upon choosing OK, the Delegate Permissions dialog box immediately appears and allows you to set the various Outlook permission levels for this delegate.   For our purposes here, John Smith is the delegator, and Karyn Stille is the delegate.

  1. Set the permission levels for each Outlook item.  The following table outlines the various permission levels that can be set.

None Has no permission and cannot open the folder.
Reviewer Can only read items.
Author Can read, create, modify, and delete items, but only those created by the delegate.
Editor Can read, create, modify, and delete any item.

Note:  Editor permission must be granted to those whom you wish to send email on your behalf.

  1. Once the permissions are set, choose OK through all open boxes to return to the Inbox.

In order for the delegate to be able to view the items from his/her personal workstation, the delegator must also give permission to view the folders.

  1. If you are not already displaying the Folder List in the Inbox, from the View menu, choose Folder List.

  2. Right-click on Outlook Today [Mailbox-Delegator's Name].

  3. From the shortcut menu, as shown below, choose Properties.

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  1. Select the Permissions tab in the Properties dialog box, and choose Add.

  1. Select the delegate's name from the Global Address List as before.

  2. Choose Add and OK.

  3. Highlight the delegate's name in the Properties dialog box.

  4. In the options toward the bottom of the box, make a check mark next to Folder Visible.

  1. Choose OK, and if necessary, turn the Folder List off from the View menu.

Now it's time to set up the delegate's workstation to view the permitted items.

Viewing Items

There are three ways a delegate can view the permitted items at his/her workstation: from the Folder List, from the Outlook Bar, and from the File menu.  The Folder List and Outlook Bar need to be set up manually first, while using the File menu requires no set-up at all.  Using the File menu is recommended only for those who need to access the permitted items infrequently, as it involves a few steps.

Setting Up the Folder List and Outlook Bar

For those that will be accessing the items on a daily or frequent basis, the Folder List should be set-up with the delegator's items.  Setting up the Outlook Bar is optional.

At the DELEGATE'S workstation:

  1. From the Tools menu, choose Services.

  2. Highlight Microsoft Exchange Server and choose Properties.  The Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box is displayed as shown below.

  1. Select the Advanced tab, and choose Add.

  2. In the Add Mailbox dialog box, type the name of the delegator, and choose OK.

  1. Outlook searches for the person in the Global Address List.  You may have to choose the proper person from the names Outlook finds.

  1. Choose OK.

  2. If necessary, choose Folder List from the View menu.  The Mailbox-[Delegator's Name] is now listed.  Clicking the plus sign to the left of the delegator's mailbox will expand the folder to view all items the delegate has permission to view.

If the delegate would like a shortcut placed on the gray Outlook Bar, continue with the following steps.

  1. Drag and drop the item needed for the shortcut from the Folder List to the appropriate spot on the Outlook Bar.  An I-bar appears to help place the shortcut in the proper location.

  2. Right-click on the shortcut, choose Rename Shortcut, and type a new name to differentiate this item from the delegate's items (i.e. "John's Calendar").

  3. Press Enter.

Accessing the Item from the File Menu

Infrequent users may want to skip the above and just access the Outlook item from the File menu when needed.

The delegate can follow these steps:

  1. From the File menu, choose Open and select Other User's Folder.  The Open Other User's Folder dialog box is displayed as below.

  1. Type in the name of the delegator, or choose the Name button to select from the Global Address List.

  2. From the drop-down arrow, select the item to be viewed.

  3. Choose OK.  Outlook searches for the person, and you may have to select the delegator from a list of names Outlook finds.

  4. The delegator's item appears if the delegate has been given the proper permissions.

If an infrequent user of the delegator's item(s) needs to only be able to read the items now and then, you can quickly set up read-only permission.  Using this method, the delegate can access the item only from the File menu.

Setting up Read-only Permission

When a manager or project coordinator, for example, would like for an assistant or other co-worker to have access to his/her Outlook items, but the assistant does not need easy or frequent access and only needs to be able to read items, you can set up read-only permission quickly using the steps outlined below.

At the DELEGATOR'S workstation:

  1. Be sure the Folder List is in view.  If not, choose Folder List from the View menu.

  2. In the Folder List, right-click on the item to be shared, for example, the Calendar.

  1. Choose Properties from the shortcut menu.  The Properties dialog box is displayed.

  2. Select the Permissions tab and choose Add.

  1. Type in the name of the delegate, or select the name from the Global Address List.

  1. Choose Add and OK.

  2. Select the delegate's name under the Permissions tab and mark the check box for Read Items in the Permissions area.

  1. Choose OK.

The DELEGATE can follow these steps to access the item:

  1. From the File menu, choose Open and select Other User's Folder.  The Open Other User's Folder dialog box is displayed as below.

  1. Type in the name of the delegator, or choose the Name button to select from the Global Address List.

  2. From the drop-down arrow, select the item to be viewed.

  3. Choose OK.  Outlook searches for the person, and you may have to select the delegator from a list of names Outlook finds.

  4. The delegator's item appears if the delegate has been given the proper permissions.

 

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