Inbox permissions
Control which team members can access each inbox
By default, everyone on your team can see every inbox. That's the right setup for most teams — but if you run several inboxes through one workspace (say, a support inbox, a billing inbox, and a founders' inbox), you may not want every team member reading every email. Inbox permissions let you restrict an inbox to specific members.
How it works
- Every inbox starts open to all team members. You don't need to configure anything.
- An inbox can be restricted to specific members. Only the members you select can see it.
- Owners and admins always have access to every inbox. Only users with the Member role can be restricted. (Admins manage inbox settings, so restricting them would be self-defeating — if someone shouldn't see an inbox, give them the Member role.)
When a member doesn't have access to an inbox, it disappears from their world entirely: it's not in their sidebar or dashboard, its conversations don't appear in search, contact history, or reports, they don't receive notifications for it, and it's hidden in the mobile app too.
Restrict an inbox to specific members
Manage access from the inbox itself:
- Open the inbox and go to Settings (admins only).
- Select the Permissions tab.
- Choose Specific members, then tick the members who should have access.
- Click Save Permissions.
To open the inbox back up to everyone, switch back to All team members and save.
Manage access per member
If you'd rather think member-by-member ("what should this person see?"), use the team page:
- Go to your Team page and open the Team Members section.
- Find the member and click the button in the Inbox Access column — it shows either All inboxes or how many they can access (e.g. 2 of 5 inboxes).
- Tick or untick inboxes in the dialog and click Save.
Owner and admin rows show Full access instead — their access can't be limited.
Good to know: if you untick an inbox that's currently open to all members, that inbox switches to Specific members mode automatically. Everyone else who could already see it keeps their access — only the member you're editing loses it.
Moving conversations between inboxes
Inbox permissions also apply to moving conversations. A member can only move a conversation from an inbox they have access to, and only to an inbox they have access to. Inboxes a member can't access never appear in their move menu.
Quick reference
| Owner | Admin | Member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access every inbox | Always | Always | Only unrestricted inboxes + inboxes they're granted |
| Change an inbox's permissions | Yes | Yes | No |
| Edit a member's inbox access | Yes | Yes | No |
A few behaviors worth knowing:
- Changing roles — If you promote a member to admin, they immediately gain access to every inbox. If you demote an admin to member, they keep access to unrestricted inboxes but lose restricted ones unless you grant them access.
- Removing someone from the team — Their inbox access is cleared. If they're re-invited later, they start fresh with the default (all unrestricted inboxes).
- New inboxes — A newly created inbox is open to all team members until you restrict it.
For an overview of what each role can do across the workspace, see Roles and permissions.