Assign a conversation
Put a conversation on yourself or a colleague so everyone can see who is dealing with it.
Updated 24 October 2026 · 3 min read
Assigning
Open the conversation and choose Assign.
Pick a name. Me is at the top. The menu stays open, so you can pick a second colleague straight away.
Click a name that has a tick to take that person off again.
A conversation can have several assignees. Their faces show on its row in the list, and the header says “Assigned to” and their names. Anyone who can see a conversation can assign it.
To assign many at once, select the conversations in the list and choose Assign in the selection actions. Pressv to open the picker for the conversation you are reading.
You can assign a colleague who cannot see the mailbox. They get access to that one conversation, not the mailbox, and the history says so. Taking the assignment off ends that access.
What assigning changes
An open conversation becomes In progress. A closed one stays closed. See Statuses.
It leaves the shared Inbox and appears under Assigned to me for that person, and Assigned to others for everyone else. Those views list only open and in-progress work.
Taking the last person off does not change the status. The conversation goes back to the shared Inbox.
The person you assign gets a notification, and you get none for assigning yourself. Open Settings, then Notifications, to choose whether it also earns a banner. See Notifications.
Assign after you send
Open Settings, then Writing. Under After sending, Assign it to me when nobody has it is on by default. When your message has gone, the conversation becomes yours, unless someone already has it. It does not apply in private mailboxes, and an undone or failed send assigns nothing.
Nobody to assign to?