Sharing and accounts

The safest default is to connect very little.

Your agent has its own Google Workspace account. The recommended way to give it work is to share specific documents, folders, calendars or email context with that account.

When the agent uses its own Google Workspace account, work appears as the agent. When you connect a personal account, the agent can act as you within the access you approve.

Find the agent’s email address

Open the Colleague dashboard and look for the Agent Google Workspace card. Copy the email address shown there. Use that address whenever you share Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive folders, calendars or email context with the agent.

First sharing test

A good first test is:

1. Copy the agent’s Google Workspace email address from the dashboard.
2. Share a simple Google Drive folder with that address and send an email to the agent’s address.
3. Give the agent Editor access if you want it to create or change files.
4. Ask the agent: “What is your email address?”
5. Ask the agent: “Can you see your Google Workspace?”
6. Ask the agent: “Can you see the folder I shared to your Google Workspace? What is in it?”
7. Ask the agent: “Can you see the email I just sent you?”
8. Ask it to create a short test document or spreadsheet in its own workspace.

Google Workspace and local workspace

The agent’s Google Workspace is different from its local workspace.

Google Workspace is for shared Docs, Drive files, calendars and email. The local workspace is where the agent keeps working files, instructions and memory used while carrying out tasks.

The agent discovers folders shared to its Google Workspace only when you ask it to work with them. It does not automatically sync the folder or its whole Drive. For ordinary files, it downloads only the selected folder into temporary task storage, uploads the intended result, verifies it and clears that task copy. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are edited through their native Google tools instead of being converted into replacement Office files.

Temporary task storage is not a backup. It can survive an ordinary idle stop/start, but it is removed when the agent container is replaced and is not automatically cleaned merely because disk space is low. The agent can clear its own marked task copy after success or when you abandon the task. Its normal local workspace remains writable and separate.

Share Google files and folders

Use direct sharing rather than link sharing where possible.

1. Open the document, spreadsheet, presentation or folder in Google Drive.
2. Choose Share.
3. Enter the agent’s Google Workspace email address.
4. Choose the lowest useful role:
   • Viewer when the agent only needs to read.
   • Commenter when you want suggestions or review notes.
   • Editor when the agent should draft, reorganise or update the work.
5. Add a short note if useful, then send or save the share.

Sharing a folder gives the agent access to the files in that folder. Use this for a project area or handoff folder. For one-off work, share only the specific file.

When a folder has the same name as another share, the agent uses the immutable Drive identity internally and may show you the owner, modified time and Drive link so you can choose the right one. Give Editor access for writes; Viewer or Commenter access cannot be used to replace ordinary files.

Google’s help page on sharing files from Google Drive has more detail about file and folder sharing roles.

Share a Google Calendar

Share only the calendar the agent needs.

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Next to the calendar, open Settings and sharing.
3. Find Share with specific people or groups.
4. Add the agent’s Google Workspace email address.
5. Choose the lowest useful permission.

Use read-only calendar access for briefing and planning. Give change permissions only if you want the agent to create, move or edit events on that calendar.

Google’s help page on sharing a calendar explains the calendar sharing options.

Share email context

Forward or send the relevant email context to the agent’s Google Workspace address. This is usually better than connecting a full personal email account.

Good examples:

• Forward one thread and ask for a summary.
• Send the agent the final message in a chain and explain what you need next.
• Copy the relevant text into chat when the context is short.

Avoid forwarding a whole mailbox or long unrelated threads. Send the smallest piece of context that lets the agent do the work.

Gmail delegation is different

Gmail delegation can be useful when you want the agent to help manage a mailbox. It is broader than forwarding a thread: Gmail delegation is not read-only and delegates can read, send and delete email in the mailbox.

For most work, forward the specific thread or send the relevant messages to the agent’s Workspace email instead. Use delegation only when mailbox-level access is what you intend.

If you use a work, university or school Google Workspace account, Gmail delegation is usually restricted to users inside the same organisation. It may not work with the agent’s Colleague Workspace account at all.

Google’s help page on Gmail delegation explains what delegates can do.

Google Drive for desktop

Install Google Drive for desktop if you work with shared files regularly. It makes files shared with the agent’s Google Workspace easier to find from Finder or File Explorer. If you use Microsoft Office files, you can open synced Word, PowerPoint and Excel files in the full desktop apps on your computer instead of editing everything in a browser window.

Other options

You do not need to connect these in order. Most users can start by sharing with the agent’s Google Workspace account and skip the rest.

Option	Use only when	Access level
Agent’s Google Workspace	You can share the relevant document, folder, email or calendar with the agent.	Lowest for collaboration: the agent sees what you share with its email address and works as itself.
Dropbox	You prefer Dropbox for file handoff.	Safer than a broad personal account connection: the agent creates and sees only Apps/Colleague/, not your whole Dropbox and does not act as you.
Personal accounts	You need the agent to act as you personally: read your inbox, search your Drive, use your calendar or work in OneDrive.	Larger: the agent can reach the account content the connection allows and actions may happen as you.

Dropbox

Dropbox is optional. Google Drive sharing can handle file handoff, so use Dropbox only if you prefer that workflow.

Dropbox is safer than a broad personal account connection because it is app-folder scoped. When you connect Dropbox, Colleague creates a single shared folder:

Apps/Colleague/

The agent can work with files you put there, but it cannot see the rest of your Dropbox and does not act as you.

Personal accounts are different from sharing

Sharing a document, folder, email or calendar with the agent’s Workspace account is targeted. Connecting a personal Google, Microsoft or similar account is broader and more powerful: the agent can see and use the content that account connection allows.

Connect a personal account only when sharing is not enough. For example:

• “Search my Drive for the latest version of this file.”
• “Summarise my unread email.”
• “What’s on my calendar this week?”
• “Create a OneDrive file as me.”

If the task can be done by sharing a document, folder, email or calendar with the agent, do that instead.

Don’t connect institutional accounts

As a rule, avoid connecting institutional/university accounts. They’re often restrictive, governed by policies that need review and rarely necessary for a strong first-use experience. Prefer the agent’s own workspace or a personal account you control.

Sharing examples

What you want	Lowest-access way
Work on a Google Doc	Share the doc with the agent’s Workspace email
Hand over a folder	Share the folder with the agent’s Workspace email
Ask about an email	Forward it to the agent’s Workspace email
Work from a calendar	Share the calendar with the agent’s Workspace email
Hand over files with Dropbox	Put them in Dropbox Apps/Colleague/

Removing access

• Stop sharing a Google document, folder or calendar with the agent’s email.
• Remove files from Dropbox Apps/Colleague/.
• Disconnect a personal service in the dashboard.
• Revoke Colleague in the provider’s own connected-app settings.

See Privacy and security for what not to share.