Remember the first time you @mentioned a teammate below an email, instead of forwarding it to them?

That’s a magical moment for many Missive users.

It’s when they realized email can be collaborative without creating more email.

Starting today, with Guest Access, you can give that same experience to anyone you work with — even if they’re not on your team.

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Invite third-party collaborators into the conversation

Guest Access makes it easy to bring people outside your organization — like an accountant, contractor, or client — directly into specific Missive conversations.

No more forwarding long threads. No more stitching together feedback from different tools. Just real-time chat alongside the emails that matter.

Here’s how it works:

• Go to a conversation
• Click the access menu → Invite guest
• Enter their email and send the invite

Your guest will get an email with a link to join. Once they create a free Missive account, they’ll land directly in the conversation you invited them to.

They’ll be able to read the full message history and reply via chat — but not email, tasks, or assignments. Just focused, limited access.

What you get (and don’t pay extra for)

Guest Access is included in all Missive plans. No add-ons. No hidden costs.

Each team member can invite up to 5 guests, and each guest can access up to 5 conversations.

That means if your team has 10 users, you can collaborate with up to 50 guests across 250 guest-enabled conversations — all for free.

A better way to loop in “sometimes” collaborators

We designed Guest Access for the people you don’t work with every day, but still need to collaborate with effectively — without paying for a full seat or dragging another tool into the mix.

If you’ve ever said:

I wish this person could just see this conversation—now they can.

Guest Access isn’t just for external vendors or partners. If you have teammates who don’t need full Missive functionality every day, Guest Access is a perfect lightweight option. No need to buy a full seat just to loop someone in occasionally.

Admins stay in control

By default, any team member can invite guests. But admins can manage this in:

Settings → Guests → Allow guest invitations

You can:

• Disable Guest Access across your org
• Restrict invitations to only admins or the org owner
• View and manage a list of all active guests
• See which conversations guests are part of
• Revoke access individually to stay within your limits

Want tighter control? You can restrict guest invitations so only admins or the org owner can send them. That way, access stays centralized and intentional.

What guests can (and can’t) do

Guests can:

• View the full message history of the conversation they’re invited to
• Chat in the conversation

Guests cannot:

• Reply to emails
• Be assigned to tasks
• Create tasks
• Access conversations they weren't explicitly invited to

This keeps their access simple, focused, and secure.

Need to make space? It’s easy.

Admins can see which guests are active and what they have access to. If you need to invite new guests but hit your limit, you can quickly revoke access from inactive ones to free up slots.

We can’t wait to see how you use Guest Access.

Whether you’re looping in a freelance designer, a tax advisor, or just a teammate who doesn't need a full Missive seat — Guest Access gives you the power to collaborate where the conversation is happening.

Try it today and let us know what you think!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can guests see the full history of the conversation?
Yes. Guests can view the entire message and chat history of any conversation they’re invited to.

Can guests reply to emails or send new ones?
No. Guests can only send chat messages. They cannot interact with the email side of the conversation.

Can guests be assigned to tasks or create tasks?
No. Guests don’t have access to task-related features in Missive.

Can guests @mention team members?
Yes. Guests can use @mentions in the chat area of the conversation to address specific people already present in the conversations. They can’t @mention people not present in the conversation.

What happens if I remove a guest from a conversation?
They will instantly lose access to that conversation and all its content.

Can I re-invite someone after removing them?
Absolutely. You can revoke access at any time and re-invite them later if needed.

Can I upgrade a guest to a full team member later?
Yes. If someone needs broader access, you can always add them as a regular user by assigning them a seat.

What if my guest has their own Missive organization?
They will be able to access the conversation(s) that you granted them, from their existing Missive interface. It will be treated like any other conversation.

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At its core, email was designed to be addressed to a single individual, just like regular mail.

But with more and more businesses starting to increase their online presence, catch-all email addresses (info@, sales@, support@) began to increase. And with no way to efficiently distribute the workload of these catch-all addresses, email quickly became a burden. To resolve the problem, it wasn't uncommon to see people use the oldest hack in the book:

Sharing individual account passwords.

It might have worked very early on when online security was not a big thing for most organizations. But email providers, like Gmail, quickly started dissuading this practice by temporarily locking people's accounts when detecting multiple sign-ins to the same account. As an alternative, Google offers Google Groups and its Collaborative Inbox.

But what is it exactly? And is it the solution you’re looking for? Let's find out!

What is Google Collaborative Inbox?

Google Collaborative Inbox is a free feature of Google Groups available to businesses using Google Workspace (also known as G Suite). It can be used by teams to manage shared email accounts that are meant to be shared mailboxes, such as support@ or info@.

While not a complete shared inbox software solution, it offers more robust features than Gmail when it comes to email collaboration.

To simplify things, Google Collaborative Inbox is a shared email folder that members of a group can access through their own accounts.

The idea is that group members can access a shared email address securely. All members can email everyone in the group and can also allow external emails. They can assign conversations to different group members, mark the progress, create labels, and filter them.

It’s the simple evolution of a distribution list, allowing teams to somewhat collaborate around a shared mailbox.

What Are the Benefits of Collaborative Inbox?

Google Collaborative Inbox allows teams using Google Workspace to access a basic shared mailbox without the need of other software.

It can be used to manage email addresses that need to be accessed by a group of people. The benefits of using Collaborative Inbox come mostly from the collaborative nature of the feature and not the tool itself.

Here are the benefits of a having a shared mailbox with collaboration functionalities:

1. Better collaboration: Teams can access and respond to emails form a shared alias without the need to share credentials.
2. Free for Google Workspace users: Collaborative Inbox is a free feature for business using Gmail to manage their emails.
3. Assigning conversations: Collaborative Inbox enables group members to assign a conversation to a specific person simplifying team workflow.

What Are the Disadvantages of Collaborative Inbox in Google Groups?

Google Collaborative Inbox sounds great, but according to its users, the solution is complex to use yet limited in its features.

Your customer support and sales teams will certainly be the most impacted. Here are the most important ones:

1. Not Integrated Into Gmail

The UI is unfamiliar and doesn’t integrate into the Gmail inbox. So your team will have to shuffle between the two apps. It also means that you can't manage all your email from one place.

2. No True Team Collaboration

You cannot easily discuss an issue with a coworker in the context of an email. Nor can emails truly be delegated. You need to either forward emails, which will generate more emails, or use the built-in chat, but you will need to describe the problem since your message won't be in context.

3. Inadequate Accountability

Replies to customers are sent from the individual's account, not the group email address, so you always need to remember also to send them to the group address. Otherwise, teammates will no longer see that email. And if the customer forgets to "reply-all", the email will never show up in the group's inbox. Emails can easily fall through the cracks.

4. Ineffective Delegating & Visibility

If an email has been assigned to someone, other people won't see if others are already working on it, not until the reply is sent. This may lead to double responses, wasted time for your team, slower response time, and customers getting a negative impression of your organization.

5. Hard to Manage

There's no simple way for a manager to monitor emails from their team. Filtering is also a bit rudimentary, so important things might get easily overlooked.

You also need to switch between Gmail and the Google Groups UI to be on top of things. This also means that emails sent to the group address can't be read on mobile devices, because they cannot be accessed through a Gmail account or any other app.

6. No Automation

Creating automation rules that help your team triage emails faster is impossible. Everything needs to be done manually, which can lead to mistakes.

7. Zero Integrations

You can't centralize your team's communications. As we all know, customers nowadays contact organizations through various channels, like, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, etc.

To wrap things up, we could say that using Google's Collaborative Inbox is far from the right tool for the job. Lost emails, unclear ownership, unintuitive UI... Here's where Missive might prove to be an excellent weapon to keep in your arsenal.

How to Create a Google Group Collaborative Inbox?

You want to give Google Group Collaborative Inbox a shot?

Here’s how to (relatively) easily turn on the collaborative inbox features in Google Groups:

1. If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to create a group, select the group email you want, and add the members you want in that specific team.
2. Once you have a group and are the admin, click on the Group in which you want to add the Collaborative Inbox
3. On the left, click Group settings.
4. In the Enable additional Google Groups features section, select Collaborative Inbox.
5. Give at least one of the following permissions to the group members in order for them to access the collaborative inbox:
   • Moderate metadata: Take a conversation, assign or unassign a conversation, mark a conversation as completed
   • Moderate content: mark a conversation as duplicate, mark a conversation as no action needed

How to Manage a Collaborative Inbox in Google Groups?

Managing the workflow of a Collaborative Inbox inside Google Groups can be done in a few different ways. Depending on the permissions you gave to each team member they can use Google Groups features to manage the shared folder of email.

Assigning a Conversation

You can assign a conversation to any group member including yourself to manage messages and responsibilities. Conversations can be sorted based on their assignment status.

Resolving a Conversation

You can mark a conversation as complete, no action required, or as a duplicate. Right next to the subject will be the status of the conversation.

Categorizing a Conversation

You can organize your Collaborative Inbox by using labels on related conversations. Labels can be used in conversations no matter their assignment and resolution status.

What Are Your Alternatives?

Your best option when looking for an alternative to Google Groups’ Collaborative Inbox is dedicated email collaboration software for business.

While you have multiple options (refer to our top shared inbox software), we believe that this short list of alternatives are the ones that will check all the boxes to make your team love shared email.

1. Missive

Missive is a real collaborative inbox. It features team inboxes and chats that empower teams to collaborate not only around email but other channels of communication like SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and live chat.

Missive was built with collaboration in mind.

The Team Inbox lets you collaborate with team members and assign them to conversation. It is useful for teams who want a "triage" step that will clean up messages for all coworkers at once.

It lets you communicate with coworkers right inside an email thread. You can also @mention a colleague and start a conversation, all without leaving the email in question.

With Missive, you can create sets of rules that automate actions; these can save time and spare support employees from doing repetitive tasks. For example, all refund-related emails can be automatically assigned to the Finance team or a specific employee.

Price: Price: Free for up to 2 shared accounts. Starting at $15/month for more.

2. Gmelius

Gmelius is a good alternative for users that want to keep on using Gmail. Gmelius is a Gmail add-on that brings shared inboxes directly to the web app. It comes with features like chats with your coworkers in an email thread, adding labels, and assigning team members to an email.

Gmelius also offer Kanban-style board for project management directly in Gmail.

Price: Start at $15/month

3. Hiver

Hiver is another solutions that is used on top of Gmail. This Chrome extension enables you to collaborate and manage your shared inbox in your existing Gmail account. It offers the standard shared mailbox functionalities such as assigning people to a conversation and tagging emails and comments privately in a discussion.

Hiver also comes with features like task automation and analytics.

Price: Starting at $19/month.

4. Helpwise

Helpwise is a good alternative to Google Group Collaborative Inbox. It offers a shared inbox similar to Missive, with a way collaborate on a shared alias with a focus on shared accounts like SMS, social media, and live chat.

It also lets you add an assignee to a conversation, tag emails, and chat with your coworkers.

Price: Free for 1 shared account. Starting at $15/month for more.

5. Help Scout

Help Scout is primarily a helpdesk software, but it can double a good shared inbox solution with features like live chat, and a knowledge base.

With it, you can manage shared emails, group emails together using labels, assign people to a conversation, chat with teammates, and tag conversations.

Price: Starting at $25/month.

Don't get me wrong. Gmail is a great email client for individuals. But when it comes to shared inboxes and team collaboration, Missive helps your team keep their eyes on the ball and move toward inbox zero.

FAQ

What Is a Collaborative Inbox?

Google Collaborative Inbox is a free feature of Google Groups that lets businesses using Google Workspace manage shared email addresses like support@ or info@ as a team.

What Is the Difference Between a Collaborative Inbox and a Shared Inbox?

A Collaborative Inbox is a feature of Google Groups that enables teams to collaborate on shared emails like info@. It acts as a shared folder where all emails from a shared alias go. It offers bare bones and basic shared inbox features.

Shared inboxes allow multiple coworkers to access email simultaneously. While each user maintains a personal account, their shared mailboxes can be accessed and managed by all.