If you have a Microsoft Exchange account, you can share and delegate Outlook e-mail messages, events, contacts, tasks, and notes with people who are on the same Exchange server.
Sharing is most often used by peers who are working on the same project. The shared folder appears under a separate account in the other user's navigation pane. Depending on the sharing permissions, the person may be able to read, create, edit, or delete items in the shared folder.
Delegation involves granting permission to another person, known as a delegate, to receive and respond to e-mail messages and meeting requests on your behalf. You can also grant additional permissions that allow your delegate to read, create, or edit items in your Exchange account.
Note
When you delegate or share an address book, calendar, or mail folder, delegates or users who share those folders could view your private contacts, events, or e-mail messages by using other software applications. To help protect your privacy, put private items in a separate, non-shared address book, calendar, or mail folder.
Options for sharing a folder
When you share a folder, you can set permissions that define what each user who accesses the folder can do:
| Permission level | Activities that a sharing user can perform |
|---|---|
| Owner | As an owner at the folder level, Create, read, modify, and delete all items in the shared folder. As an owner at the mailbox level, a user can change the permission levels that others have for the folder. |
| Publishing Editor | Create, read, modify, and delete all items, and create subfolders. |
| Editor | Create, read, modify, and delete all items. |
| Publishing Author | Create and read items, create subfolders, and modify and delete items that you create. |
| Author | Create and read items, and modify and delete items that you create. |
| Nonediting Author | Create and read items, and delete items that you create. |
| Reviewer | Read items only. |
| Contributor | Create items only. |
| Custom | Perform activities defined by the folder owner. |
| Free/Busy time, subject, location | For calendar sharing only, read the free/busy information, subject, and location of calendar events |
| Free/Busy time | For calendar sharing only, read the free/busy information of calendar events |
| None | Not perform any activity. The user remains on the permissions list but has no permission and cannot open the folder. |
Options for delegating a folder
When you add a delegate, you can give the delegate separate permission levels for your calendar, inbox, address book, tasks, and notes folders:
| Permission level | Activities that a delegate can perform |
|---|---|
| Editor | Read, create, and modify items, including modifying and deleting items that the account owner created. For example, a delegate with Editor permissions can create meeting requests directly in the account owner's calendar and respond to meeting requests on the account owner's behalf. |
| Author | Read and create items, and modify and delete items that he or she creates. |
| Reviewer | Read items only. For example, the delegate can read messages in the account owner's inbox. |
See also
Share a folder in an Exchange account