Share an Email Folder

Sharing your email folders

With Stanford Email and Calendar, you can share your email folders with internal users or groups. Internal users are people with an "@stanford.edu" address. You cannot share email folders with anyone outside of Stanford. Sharing an email folder is useful if you want to keep coworkers or other individuals informed about email conversations without cluttering their mailbox. They can access your email folder and review the conversations at their leisure. The default is that the email folders are not shared.

When sharing an email folder, first decide with whom to share and their access privileges. For example, you can give one co-worker read-only access, and full access to another. Next, send an invitation. The grantee receives access to the folder when they accept the invitation.

For further sharing options in Stanford Email and Calendar, see Share a Calendar, Share a Address Book, and Share a Task List.

Share an email folder

  1. Click the Mail tab.

    mail tab
  2. Right-click (CTRL+click on the Mac) the folder to share.

    share folder
  3. Select Share Folder. The Share Properties dialog box opens.

    share properties
  4. In the Share with area, Internal users and groups is selected by default. The other two options are disabled.
  5. In the Email field, enter the email address of the person with whom you are sharing this folder. 
  6. Select a Role option.
  7. Select a Message option.
  8. Click OK. If the share is accepted, the folder displays in the grantee's list with the assigned privileges.

Choose a role

In the Role area, click the type of access you want to give for this folder:

  • None. The grantee still has the folder but cannot view or manage the content. This option temporarily disables access to a grantor's shared folder without revoking the share privileges.
  • Viewer. The grantee can read but cannot change the folder content.
  • Manager. The grantee has full permission to view, edit, delete, and add new items to the folder.
  • Admin. The grantee has full permission to view, edit, delete, add new items to the folder, and share your folder with others.

Choose a message

In the Message area, select which type of message to send:

  • Do not send mail about this share. No message is sent.
  • Send standard message. The standard share notification message is sent to the email address. This message includes the name of the folder that is being shared, your address, the grantee's address, the role assigned, and a list of the allowed actions.
  • Add a note to standard message. Add more information to the standard message.
  • Compose email in new window. Create a new email message of your own. Pop-up blocking must be off.

Accept a shared folder

  1. In the Overview pane, click Find Shares.
  2. In the Find Shares field, type the email address of the person who has shared their folder with you.
  3. Use the Include arrow to choose All applications or Mail shares only.
  4. Click Search.
  5. Select the shared folder.
  6. Click Add.

View your privileges to a shared folder

  1. Click the Email tab.
  2. In the Overview pane, right-click (CTRL+click on the Mac) the folder.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. The Folder Properties dialog box displays your role in the Permissions field.
  5. Click OK.

Change access permissions to a shared folder

  1. Click the Email tab.
  2. In the Overview pane, right-click (CTRL+click on the Mac) the shared folder.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. The Folder Properties dialog box displays the names that share the folder.
  5. In the Sharing for this folder area, click Edit for the appropriate name.
  6. Reset the Role option as desired using the Share Properties dialog box.
  7. Select the desired Message option.
  8. Click OK.

Revoke the share permissions of a folder

  1. Click the Email tab.
  2. In the Overview pane, right-click (CTRL+click on the Mac) the shared folder.
  3. Click Edit Properties. The Folder Properties dialog box displays the names that share the folder.
  4. In the Sharing for this folder area, click Revoke for the appropriate name. The Revoke Share dialog box opens.
  5. Select the desired Message option.
  6. Click Yes.
  7. Click OK to close the Folder Properties dialog box. The user can no longer access your shared folder. The user can (and should) delete the item from their Overview pane list. If they double-click the item, a message displays saying that they do not have access to the folder.