Fixing Lost Gmail Delegation After Device Changes: A Quick GAM Solution

Last week, a familiar support ticket landed in our queue. An employee got a new phone and suddenly couldn’t access the shared Sales inbox they’d been using for months. The delegation was still active in Google Workspace, but their device just wouldn’t show it.

This happens more often than you’d think. Device changes, app reinstalls, or even major Gmail updates can sometimes break the sync between Google’s servers and the client. The delegation exists on paper, but the device doesn’t know about it.

The Quick Fix

Instead of waiting hours for Google’s systems to sort themselves out, we use GAM (Google Apps Manager) to force a refresh. It’s faster than troubleshooting through the Admin Console and gives you immediate verification.

Here’s what we did:

First, we verified we were connected to the right workspace:

gam info domain

Then we checked the existing delegations on the shared mailbox:

gam user sales@example.com show delegates

Sure enough, the user was already listed as an accepted delegate. The permission was there—just not syncing properly.

The solution? Remove and re-add the delegation:

gam user sales@example.com delete delegate tom@example.com

gam user sales@example.com add delegate tom@example.com

We verified it worked with another quick check, and within 20 minutes the user confirmed the delegated account appeared in their Gmail account switcher.

Why This Works

When you remove and re-add a delegation, you’re essentially telling Google’s systems to rebuild that connection from scratch. It triggers a fresh sync that usually resolves whatever hiccup prevented the original delegation from showing up on the new device.

A Few Things to Remember

Gmail delegations aren’t instant. Even after running the commands, it can take 15–30 minutes for everything to propagate. We always warn users about this wait time upfront.

Also, sometimes the user needs to sign out and back into Gmail on their device to force it to pull the updated delegation list. It’s a small step, but it can save another support ticket.

The Bigger Picture

This is exactly why we keep GAM in our toolkit. The Google Admin Console is fine for most tasks, but when you need precision and speed, command-line tools win every time. You get immediate feedback, detailed status information, and can script repetitive tasks.

For MSPs managing multiple Google Workspace tenants, tools like GAM aren’t optional—they’re essential. They turn a 30-minute troubleshooting session into a three-minute fix.

Got similar delegation issues? Try this approach. It’s saved us countless hours of back-and-forth with users and support tickets that would otherwise sit in “waiting for sync” limbo.

Having Google Workspace challenges? StarDawn IT specializes in cloud administration and support. Reach out if you need help keeping your systems running smoothly.