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10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0

- Lesson 21 -
Delegating Mail Functions

 

In this lesson, you learn how to delegate mailbox functions so that you can arrange to have someone else take care of some or all of your e-mail. In addition, you learn how you can take care of another user's mail.

Understanding Delegation

In Exchange, delegation is the act of permitting someone to represent you. In Microsoft Exchange Client, you can arrange to have a delegate do one or all of the following things:

  • Open your mailbox and view the contents. You can make arrangements to be notified about those messages that are important and then decide whether the delegate should respond to them.

  • Send mail on your behalf. Messages sent from your mailbox by the delegate have the delegate's name along with the words "on behalf of" followed by your name in the From field of the message.

  • Send mail in your name. Messages sent from your mailbox by the delegate have your name as the sender. The receiver has no reason to think the mail is not from you.

To delegate responsibilities, you have to perform two separate operations: You must give the delegate access to your mailbox; then you must specifically configure your mailbox to permit the delegate to send mail on your behalf. If you also want the delegate to send mail in your name, you must have an administrator make configuration changes to your mailbox at the server; you cannot provide that right yourself.

Providing Access to Your Mailbox

To have a delegate access your mailbox (or specific folders in your mailbox) you must configure your mailbox for the necessary permissions. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

1. In the Folder pane of your Microsoft Exchange Client window, select your mailbox. If you are giving permission for a specific folder only, such as the Inbox, select the folder.

2.
Right-click the mailbox and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to bring up the Mailbox Properties dialog box.

3.
Click the Permissions tab to see the options shown in Figure 21.1.

Figure 21.1 Use the Permissions tab to give specific rights to your mailbox to other users.

4. Click Add to see the Global Address List, and then double-click the delegate's name. (You can name more than one delegate.) Click OK when you finish adding names. The delegate's name appears on the Permissions tab.

5.
Select (highlight) the delegate's name. Then click the Roles drop-down arrow, select a role, and click OK.

Handling Confidential Mail

If you're used to having an assistant or secretary open all your mail and you want to extend this duty to e-mail, you can, but note that there's no way to exclude confidential or personal items that you receive at that e-mail address. The only way to get around this is to have the administrator create a second mailbox, a hidden mailbox, for you. Then you can give out that address to people who need to send you confidential or personal mail.


Hidden Mailbox Microsoft Exchange Server enables an administrator to hide a mailbox so that it isn't displayed on any address lists. However, if a sender types in the mailbox name when he's filling out the To section of a message, the message will get to the mailbox. To use this feature, you have to give the hidden mailbox name to anyone who needs to send you confidential mail, and then you must check that mailbox yourself.

Accessing Another User’s Mailbox

If you have permission to access another user's mailbox, you have to take these few steps:

1. Choose Tools, Services to display the list of services installed in your profile.

2.
Select Microsoft Exchange Server and choose Properties.

3.
Click the Advanced tab to move to that page (shown in Figure 21.2).

Figure 21.2 You can add the capability to open additional mailboxes if you've been given the permissions.

4. Choose Add to add another item to the Open These Additional Mailboxes list.

5.
Enter the name of the additional mailbox you've been given permission to access.

6.
Click OK. Then click OK two more times to close the dialog box. Your folder list now displays the additional mailbox along with your own mailbox (see Figure 21.3).

You can manipulate the new mailbox the same way you handle your own mailbox.

Figure 21.3 The Folder pane shows all the mailboxes to which you have access.

Delegating the Send Mail Function

When you let a delegate send mail on your behalf, the From field of all messages sent by this delegate contains the words "Sent on behalf of" followed by your name, along with the delegate's name.

To authorize a user to send mail on your behalf, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools, Options.

2.
Click the Exchange Server tab of the Options dialog box (see Figure 21.4).

3.
Place the delegate's name in the Give Send on Behalf Of Permission To box by choosing Add, selecting a name from the address list that appears, and double-clicking the selected name.

4.
(Optional) Repeat step 3 to add additional delegates.

5.
When you finish selecting delegates, click OK. Then click OK again to close the dialog box.

Figure 21.4 Choose the delegate that you want to send mail throughout the system on your behalf.

Sending Mail as a Delegate

After all the permissions are set, your delegate can begin sending mail on your behalf (or in your name if the administrator has configured this option for you). If you are the delegate, you can send mail on another user's behalf from your own mailbox. It's just like sending a message from yourself to another user, except you have to change the name in the From field. To send mail on another user's behalf, follow these steps:

1. Click the New Message button to open a new message form. By default, this form does not display a From box in the header, so you have to remedy that.

2.
Choose View, From Box to insert a From box in the message window.

3.
Move your pointer to the From box and either type in the other user's name or click From and select the name from the Global Address list that appears. You do not have to add anything else; Microsoft Exchange Server takes care of adding the information that this message is written on behalf of the other user.

4.
Fill in the rest of the message header, placing the recipi-ent's name in the To box, entering additional recipients in the Cc box, and filling in the Subject box.

5.
Move to the text box and enter the message.

6.
Click the Send button to send the message.

If you do not have the proper permissions to fill in the From box with another user's name, Microsoft Exchange Server will issue an error message and refuse to send the message. Of course, if the administrator has established delegation rights for sending mail in the name of the user, the recipient will not be able to tell that the delegate composed and sent the message. The From box merely gives the user's name.

In this lesson, you learned how to give permissions for others to access your mailbox and how to send mail on behalf of others. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to use the Inbox Assistant to automate some of the tasks you perform when you receive mail.

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