Sending messages on behalf of other users
If you plan to send messages on behalf of other users, you
should enable the From field in the client interface so that users can
select the mailbox from which they want to send the message. For
example, in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2013, you select the Options tab
and then click the Show From button. Note that if you configure your
Outlook profile so that it opens multiple Exchange mailboxes, Outlook
will always display the From field when you create a new message.
When
the From field is enabled, the user can select the email account from
which he wants to send by clicking the From button. This action reveals
a drop-down list in which the user’s own account is listed first (Figure 5).
The user can then select Other E-Mail Address to have Outlook display
the list of mailboxes on behalf of which she might send mail. It’s also
possible to type the name directly into the From field of a
mail-enabled recipient on whose behalf she has the right to send mail,
including a normal or dynamic group but not a mail-enabled contact. If
a mailbox is selected from which the user doesn’t have the permission
to send mail, Exchange returns the message as undeliverable. When a
recipient replies to a message that was sent on behalf of a user,
Exchange delivers the response to the mailbox of the user for whom the
message was sent.
The
process to enable the From field to send messages on behalf of another
user varies across clients and client versions, so you should consult
the documentation for the specific version of your client to determine
the necessary steps. It’s also true that some email clients might not
support the feature, even when they are connected to Exchange.
One
aspect that might surprise you is that the default for sending messages
on behalf of another user is to retain the copy of the sent message in
the impersonating user’s mailbox. In other words, if Jill sends a
message on behalf of Bob, the sent message is stored in the Sent Items
folder in Jill’s mailbox, and Bob sees no trace of the message that was
sent on his behalf. The logic here is impeccable because although Jill
has the permission to send messages on Bob’s behalf, she has not been
assigned the permission to store anything in his mailbox. Before the
sent message can be stored in Bob’s mailbox, you have to assign Jill
Full Access permission over Bob’s mailbox, which might or might not be
what you want to do.
The easy workaround is always to add the
person on whose behalf you are sending a message as a CC or BCC
recipient. In this respect, a CC recipient is better because it allows
the person to participate in future messages sent in the thread.
However, a BCC recipient is quite sufficient if you just want to
provide a copy for reference.
If you deem the workaround
insufficient and want to force all messages sent on behalf of another
user to be stored in that user’s mailbox, you can make a change on the
server so that Exchange captures copies of messages sent by delegates
no matter which client is used, including Outlook when running in
online mode.
