Shared inbox in Google Workspace: Google Group or delegated mailbox, and how to set each one up

Every company has an info@. In most companies it works badly: either nobody replies because everyone assumes someone else will, or two people reply at once and the customer gets two different answers. If you are coming from Microsoft, you are probably searching for a “shared mailbox” and finding that Google’s Admin console uses different words for the same idea.

Google Workspace gives you a shared address in two fundamentally different ways: a Google Group, or a delegated Gmail mailbox (which the Admin console now also calls a “shared inbox”). They cost different amounts, they handle assignment differently, and their mobile support is different. This guide covers both, the setup steps for each, and the point at which neither is enough any more.

Checked against Google’s documentation on 9 September 2026. Google changes these features often; where we say “check your Admin console”, we mean it.

The two options at a glance

How to choose in one minute

The decision usually comes down to one question: does the team need to see who has taken a message? If yes, use a Group with Collaborative Inbox, because that is where assignment lives. If the team mainly wants one shared history in a familiar Gmail interface, use a delegated mailbox and agree a label convention. If the volume or the number of people makes either of those creak, you need a helpdesk.

Option 1: a Google Group with Collaborative Inbox (free)

A Google Group is not a user, so it needs no licence. Give it the address info@yourdomain.com and every member receives what is sent to it. Switch on Collaborative Inbox and the group’s web page turns into a lightweight ticket queue: members can take a conversation, assign it to a colleague, mark it complete or as a duplicate, and add labels. This is the only one of the two options with built-in assignment.

Setting it up

1. In the Admin console go to Directory, Groups, Create group. Give it the public address, for example info@. Groups for Business must be enabled for your organisation (Apps, Google Workspace, Groups for Business).
2. Under Access settings set Who can post to Anyone on the web, otherwise customers’ mail bounces. Keep Who can view conversations restricted to members: “anyone can post” and “anyone can read” are separate settings.
3. Open the group at groups.google.com, then Group settings. Switch on Conversation history (without it, Collaborative Inbox cannot be enabled), tick Enable additional Google Groups features and choose Collaborative Inbox.
4. Under Who can moderate metadata and the related permissions, decide who may assign and resolve conversations.
5. Add the team as members. Each member chooses whether to receive every message by email or to work only from the group page.

Pro: costs nothing and shows who is on what. Con: the working interface is a Google Groups page, not Gmail, and the team will need a short introduction to it. Replies sent from the group page go out from the group address. Replies sent from a member’s own Gmail go out from that person’s address unless the group is also configured as a “send mail as” identity; test this with an external recipient before you rely on it.

Option 2: a delegated Gmail mailbox, now also called a shared inbox

Create a normal user info@, then let the team into it. In Gmail this is called delegation: delegates open the mailbox from their own account switcher, read and reply as info@, and never need its password. Google has recently added an Admin console flow called Create a shared inbox (available on Business Starter, Standard and Plus, rolling out gradually) that creates exactly this: a mailbox with delegated access, set up centrally instead of from inside the mailbox. It does not add assignment or “who is replying” indicators; those remain a Groups feature.

Setting it up from the Admin console (newer flow)

1. Admin console: Directory, Users, look for the shared inbox option (its exact placement is still changing; search the Admin console for “shared inbox”).
2. Give it the address, choose the delegates, and decide whether recipients see “sent by Anna on behalf of info@” or only the info@ name.
3. Assign a licence to the new account. It is a user, so it costs one seat.

Setting it up the classic way

1. Admin console: Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, User settings. Make sure Mail delegation is allowed for the organisational unit that contains info@.
2. Sign in as info@ once, open Gmail Settings, Accounts, Grant access to your account, and add each colleague. They receive an email and must accept.
3. Each delegate clicks their profile picture in Gmail and picks info@ (delegated). It opens in a new tab, with its own labels, filters and search.
4. Store the real password of info@ in a password manager, turn on 2-step verification, and do not hand the password to the team. Delegation exists precisely so that nobody needs it.

Pro: it is real Gmail with filters, search and spam protection, and one shared history. Con: one licence, and delegation does not show who is already replying, so double replies remain possible. A cheap fix is a label convention: “Anna”, “Jānis”, “Done”, applied before replying.

Mobile access

For years the answer was simple and unpopular: delegated mailboxes worked in the browser only, not in the Gmail app. That is changing. Google’s documentation now describes delegated account access in the Gmail app on Android, iPhone and iPad as rolling out, with limits on background sync and notification settings. Whether your users have it today depends on the rollout and the app version, so test it on one phone before announcing it to the team.

If it is not there yet for you, two workarounds remain:

• Use the Group instead. Group mail lands in every member’s own inbox, which the Gmail app has always shown. Replies from the phone go out from the member’s address unless the group is configured as a “send mail as” identity.
• Forward a copy. Set a filter in info@ that forwards new mail to the person on duty. They see it on the phone and reply from the desktop later. The shared history stays in info@ only if they reply from there.

What we do not recommend: signing several people into info@ directly on their phones with its password. It removes the audit trail, makes offboarding a password-reset exercise for the whole team, and sends 2-step verification prompts to whoever registered the phone.

Settings that make either option work

• One reply identity for the shared address. If a colleague answers a customer from their personal account, the conversation leaves the shared history. Configure the shared address as a “send mail as” identity for the people who handle it, and agree that customer replies go out from it. Do not make it the default sender for their personal correspondence.
• Authentication. Several people sending “as” one identity, sometimes from different tools, is exactly the situation where a missing SPF entry or DKIM signature gets noticed. Finish SPF, DKIM and DMARC first: see why important emails never arrive.
• A shared signature with the company name and phone number, not the name of somebody who left last year.
• Auto-reply outside hours, set on the shared account or group, so customers know when to expect an answer.
• Retention and offboarding. A shared mailbox accumulates years of customer history. Decide who owns it, how long it is kept, and remove delegates or group members on the day someone leaves.

When Gmail is no longer enough

There is no magic number of emails per day. The signals are these: customers ask “did anyone get my message?”, two people answer the same thread in the same hour, nobody can say how long the average reply takes, and the same question is answered from scratch every week. At that point you need a helpdesk with tickets, response-time tracking and a knowledge base. Gmail is an email client, not a ticketing system, and trying to turn it into one usually ends in a workflow nobody can track. The info@ address you set up today simply forwards into whichever helpdesk you choose later.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Google Workspace shared inbox free?

A Google Group with Collaborative Inbox is free, because a group is not a user. A delegated mailbox, including the one created through the Admin console’s “shared inbox” flow, is a user account and costs one licence.

Can I use a delegated Gmail mailbox on my phone?

Google is rolling out delegated account access in the Gmail app for Android and iOS. Check on your own device; if it is not available yet, use a Group or a forwarding filter, not a shared password.

What is the Google equivalent of a Microsoft shared mailbox?

The closest match is a delegated Gmail mailbox: a real account that several people open from their own Gmail. If you also need to assign conversations to people, that is a Google Group with Collaborative Inbox.

Related articles

• Why important emails never arrive: SPF, DKIM and DMARC in order
• How to actually get Google Workspace support when something breaks
• Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365: how to choose without trialling both

If you are not sure which option fits your team, ask us. It is usually decided in one conversation, and the setup for either option is a short job as part of our managed IT services.

Want info@ handled properly? We help you choose between a group, a delegated mailbox and a helpdesk, configure access and sending, and test it with your team. Book a free 30-minute audit or call +371 22 30 50 90.

Set up a shared inbox