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Ask HN: Is there no way to remove yourself from a delegated Gmail account?

67 points by kkoppenhaver ↗ HN
For context, my wife was given delegated email access to a Gmail account >10 years ago and no longer has contact with the account admin. She'd like to remove herself from this delegated access but multiple chats with Google support reps have indicated that the only way to do this is by contacting the account admin and asking to be removed.

I've been looking into this and seen multiple forum threads of people delegated access by ex's, relatives who have passed away and the like who are unable to remove themselves from this access even if it's extremely painful.

It blows my mind that this isn't a feature that exists or that Google can't help you remove your _own_ delegated access.

Anyone encountered this before and found a solution?

43 comments

[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 108 ms ] thread
neximo64
If i'm honest it makes sense the admin should do it. For the person invited to uninvite themselves after is a bit weird.
capableweb
Why is that weird? If I have an account, that has been given access to some resource, it makes sense that I can remove access to that resource myself, just like the admin could. It is my account after all.

Imagine if someone could invite you to a calendar event, but you can't clear it from your own calendar if you say no. How does that make sense?

heavenlyblue
There was recently a spam group that would use Google Calendar Events to spam you in your calendar. They stopped for a while ago, seems like Google needs more spammers like these in order to get this problem solved.
n3storm
"Opt out" of any online service or communications should be a human right
themitigating
It could be a law. I feel like calling it a human right cheapens what those are
hyperman1
Isn't this a part of the right to rectification in the GDPR?
robin_reala
In this case it’s not about rectification (the information is factually correct), but you can remove your consent to the processing our your personal data for this purpose.
silisili
I'd think the admin should know if their delegate doesn't want to be so, before the time comes they're needed. The current system seems set up as 'oh, you can't login, let's ask your ex you just had a bitter divorce with for help', which isn't great for either party.
KyeRussell
If you aren’t a Googler, you should be. “[description of their assumed use case], therefore [forcing something on the user]” is the right mindset.
Ensorceled
As a developer with pretty good product instincts, my first reaction is always “WTH? Why did someone implement this” and then there is someone in the comments who defends the situation and thinks this is the way it SHOULD be implemented.

That’s the best part about these problem reports on HN: It answers those Why would and Who would questions.

firstcommentyo
> For the person invited to uninvite themselves after is a bit weird.

If I invite you to my party and you agree, your not allowed to leave before I allow you. Yours sincerely, Vlad Drăculea

sebazzz
Since you're delegated, I suppose you could plant a email in the inbox. I'm not sure if the legality of this though.
Brajeshwar
My assumption is that Gmail delegation is possible only with Suite/Workspace. Since she has access to that domain, ask one of the admins to do that. Otherwise, I have no idea how the public Gmail.com account can be delegated (this is a nice feature).

Otherwise, it might be a forward.

In that case, the only option is to add a filter -- if email is marked TO:themail@domain.com, then mark as read, delete, not marked as important.

Ensorceled
Delegation is possible with gmail.com, I’ve set it up when I created my parents email accounts. This person is trying to turn it off.

I’ve had about a dozen people over the years add my gmail.com account as the delegate and, luckily, Ive been able to decline since it looks like a real pain if I hadn’t.

barney54
What is delegated email access?
samwillis
It's allows the "delegated" gmail user to access the inbox, and send email on behalf of, another gmail user. It predates GSuite.

It's a useful feature for spouses or if you have a PA. Or in my case where my wife regularly points out she is effectively my and our children's PA...

[dead] Jabbles
[flagged]
atdrummond
That’s not even the primary thrust of the article (which isn’t about how much work each person does but rather how tasks are delegated and by whom) but it’s also not your place to suggest this. Beyond the fact you don’t know him or his wife and whether this is a serious or playful comment, the commenter didn’t ask for your advice on how to improve his household or his relationship with his wife.

Oy.

themitigating
If someone is about to wipe all their personal files would you offer unsolicited advice?
atdrummond
I don’t understand how that is a remotely comparable situation. The whole point here is the commenter is speculating to a huge degree about the situation and relation between the parent poster and his spouse.

I don’t think there’s nearly the ambiguity in your scenario, nor does it deal with the emotionally tinged subject of human relationships.

groestl
I understand where you're coming from and just want to add as a thought, that we, as readers and third party, are also part of this public conversation. And it might be of value that somebody puts in the energy to pointing out a bias for us, that might easily be looked over and if unanswered, even serve to reproduce something by humorously normalizing it (just in general, I even think that GP is actually the minority who's aware of the problem and not in need of pointing it out)
refurb
I mean my brother is OCD and complains about the "mental load" of sterilizing every surface I touch when I come over, but doesn't mean I should take on more responsibility.
themitigating
False comparison.

That's between your brother and countertops.

His situation is between himself and his wife. He's already involved

refurb
Not sure if that changes anything, it's about "expectations of others".

I've seen plenty of spouses complain of "mental load" and when you dig a bit further, it's micromanaging.

My friend was happy to help organize after-school sports for their two kids. His wife didn't like the activities, the coaches or the timing, so took it over, then complained that "she has to do everything".

If you want to delegate, then delegate. You don't get to complain about "mental load" if you can't let go.

Jabbles
But you could, right? You could acknowledge that your brother has a mental illness and try to accommodate him, by meeting somewhere else, or restricting yourself to single room in his house, or helping him clean.

You don't have to, but it might be a kind thing to do.

themitigating
". Or in my case where my wife regularly points out she is effectively my and our children's PA"

As someone with aspegers it took me 30 years to realize this type of communication. It's so open but without emotion that I assume they don't care. The reality is often they are trying to be nice about expressing their frustration

LMYahooTFY
That's impressive insight as many people I know without aspergers will often miss this sort of thing. Communication is hard.

So congratulations to you!

ninjanomnom
I've said this sort of thing myself and every time genuinely either didn't care or said it out of some measure of pride. I wouldn't have thought people use it this way either.
nl
I don't have any particularly useful suggestions, but I wonder if this falls under the can-spam act?
ecf
Receiving a response from Google support is a win in and of itself. Unfortunately they didn’t help out, but most never get that far.
Ensorceled
Sisyphean Support: sooooooooo close to the top on that one
computerfriend
Trigger a password reset, use delegated access to reset the password, take over the account, remove delegation.
michaelmior
I believe the delegated access does not allow you to change passwords.
radu_floricica
Same with plain forwarding. Yeah, doesn't make sense, after all you had to give permission to set this up - now there's no way to revoke. Just set up a filter and forget about it.
bluena
Would suggest to keep delegated access but use automated filters in Gmail so that those mails: - skip the inbox - are automatically marked as read - either deleted or place those mails in a separate and hidden folder

Painful memories should be avoided this way

rahimnathwani
This is not how delegated access works. It doesn't affect how your own inbox looks at all.

To switch to the delegated mailbox, you need to choose it from the account drop down on the top right.

isthisthingon99
I use fastmail and use sieve filtering to reject all emails I don't want. They don't even show up in my email account, there is no record of them.
rahimnathwani
Several comments in this thread suggest solutions make no sense. Perhaps the commenters have never seen how delegated access works in Gmail?

Once you've been delegated access to a Gmail account, it appears in the list of accounts you can switch to, but only within the Gmail web UI.

When you explicitly switch to that account, you see the other person's mailbox. If you never click on the switcher, you wouldn't even remember you had access.

Given the above:

- filtering makes no sense, because the mail items never appear in the same mailbox anyway

- changing password makes no sense, as you can only access gmail and not the whole Google account