5 Tips for Managing Delegated Inboxes in Gmail

Delegated inboxes in Gmail (support@, info@, sales@, or an exec's mailbox shared with an assistant) are great because your team can stay in one place.

They can also get messy fast: duplicate replies, missed threads, and no clarity on who owns what.

Here's a Gmail-first setup that stays simple and scalable.

Pick your setup

In Google Workspace, you'll usually pick one:

• Shared inbox (a real mailbox + delegation): simplest when you want replies to come from support@ by default, and you want shared Drafts and Sent.
• Google Group (Collaborative Inbox): great when you want lightweight assignment without an extra mailbox.

If support@ is only a Google Group, members typically reply from their own address unless they set up Send mail as support@ in Gmail. That setup usually requires a Group Owner/Manager to allow the Gmail verification email to reach the group during verification, then each teammate adds the group address under Gmail Settings → Accounts → Send mail as, verifies it, and can pick support@ as the From address.

Use labels for ownership and status

Gmail doesn't have built-in ticket ownership, so use labels as a lightweight system.

Create:

• Status: Status/To do, Status/Waiting on customer, Status/Waiting internal, Status/Done
• Owner: Owner/Alex, Owner/Sam, Owner/Team

Two ways to run ownership:

• Triage owner rotation: one person labels new threads and assigns owners (fast for busy inboxes)
• Self-assign: anyone who picks up a thread tags it with their Owner/* label

One rule that prevents chaos: one thread, one owner who sends the reply.

Set up filters

Filters are Gmail's superpower for shared inboxes. When creating a filter, you can paste Gmail search operators directly into the filter query.

Examples you can copy:

• Invoices or receipts → label Billing/Receipts

  • Filter query: subject:(invoice OR receipt OR facture OR factuur) OR ((invoice OR receipt) has:attachment)

• Login or password requests → label Support/Auth

  • Filter query: ("password" OR "reset" OR "login" OR "sign in" OR "connexion" OR "mot de passe")

• Anything with an attachment → label Needs review/Attachment

  • Filter query: has:attachment

• VIP domains → label Priority/VIP

  • Filter query: from:(@yourbigcustomer.com OR @yourpartner.com)

Path: Settings → Filters and blocked addresses → Create a new filter

Keep filters predictable. Too many clever rules become a black box.

Use MailFlow AI to triage and draft replies

If you're running a delegated inbox, the biggest time sink is triage plus writing the first-pass reply.

MailFlow is built for this workflow and is designed to be easy to set up:

• connect it to Gmail
• point it to your knowledge sources (website, FAQs, docs)
• it can auto-triage (categorize and suggest labels or owners) and generate draft replies directly in the Gmail thread

Your team stays in control: review, edit, send, or discard. All directly from Gmail.

Use a few Gmail power features

A few Gmail features make delegated inboxes feel much less chaotic:

• Multiple Inboxes: create panes for Status/To do and Status/Waiting…
• Keyboard shortcuts: turn them on
• Search operators you'll actually use:
  • label:Status/To do
  • label:Owner/Alex
  • has:attachment
  • older_than:7d and newer_than:2d
• Snooze for follow-ups
• Send & Archive to keep the inbox clean

Try MailFlow

If you want the fastest path to a calmer delegated inbox, add labels and a few filters, then let MailFlow handle triage and drafts.