Managing SPA-Affiliated bMail Accounts

SPAs are intended for collaboration and sharing. SPAs, their contents/data, and the shared email account are owned by the institution and the primary department of the employee who creates the SPA at the time the SPA is created.

Allow other campus users to access a SPA-affiliated email account by making them Direct Members of the SPA or by delegating access via bMail.

How to Create a SPA-affiliated bMail Account

  1. Log out of your browser or open an incognito or private window - you cannot create a bMail account for your SPA if you are logged in as yourself

  2. Go to https://bconnected.berkeley.edu/

  3. Click the Quick Linksmenu at top right and select Create Google Account

  4. When prompted, enter your CalNet ID in one of the following formats (do not enter just your personal CalNet ID or the process will not work)

    1. Your personal CalNet ID with a plus symbol in front of it = +yourcalnetid

    2. SPA followed by the SPA name and your personal ID = spa-spaname+yourcalnetid

  5. Enter your CalNet Passphrase and click Sign In

  6. If you entered +yourcalnetid in step 4, above, click the drop down menu, select the name of your new SPA account and click Sign In As

  7. When directed to the Create your bConnected Google account screen, review the berkeley.edu domain

  8. Read through the UC Berkeley email policy, mark that you agree with them, and then press Create bConnected Google Account

How to Delegate Access to your SPA bMail Account

For additional assistance, watch this helpful Gmail video: How to set up Gmail delegation(link is external) or check out the KB article on bMail delegated access.

  1. Open a different browser or use an incognito window in Chrome. YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN AS THE SPA, and not as yourself, to manage delegate access to a SPA-affiliated bMail account. This process will not work if you are already logged in to a CalNet session as yourself.
  2. Navigate to bmail.berkeley.edu
  3. When prompted, log in as follows:
    CalNet ID: Enter the plus sign, and your CalNet ID: +YourCalNetID
    Passphrase: Your personal CalNet passphrase
    Click Sign In
  4. From the drop down menu, select the name of the SPA-affiliated bMail account that you want to log in to and click Sign In As.
  5. Click on the wheel icon in the upper right corner of the screen, and select Settings
  6. Click on the Accounts tab, and scroll down to Grant access to your account. This section will show who currently has delegated access to the account, if anyone.
  7. Click on the Add another account link.
  8. Enter the email address you want to delegate access to, and click Next Steps.
  9. Review your delegation, and click Send email to grant access.
  10. Your delegate will receive an email prompting them to accept the delegation. Once they accept the delegation, it can take up to two hours for the delegation to be processed within bMail.

How to remove Delegated Access from your SPA bMail Account

  1. Open a different browser or use an incognito window in Chrome. YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN AS THE SPA, and not as yourself, to manage delegate access to a SPA-affiliated bMail account. This process will not work if you are already logged in to a CalNet session as yourself.
  2. Navigate to bmail.berkeley.edu
  3. When prompted, log in as follows:
    CalNet ID: Enter the plus sign, and your CalNet ID: +YourCalNetID
    Passphrase: Your personal CalNet passphrase
    Click Sign In
  4. From the drop down menu, select the name of the SPA-affiliated bMail account that you want to log in to and click Sign In As.
  5. Click on the wheel icon in the upper right corner of the screen, and select Settings
  6. Click on the Accounts tab, and scroll down to Grant access to your account. This section will show who currently has delegated access to the account, if anyone.
  7. To delete a delegation, click on the delete link next to that user's email address, and confirm.

Tips for Delegating Access

  • You can delegate your SPA's Departmental bMail account to other users or Departments as long as they have an active bMail address. 
  • Users with the Delegated Access role will not be able to log in directly to the SPA's Departmental bMail account. They can view and send email only from their own bMail account (using the pull down menu in the upper right hand side of their own bMail window). 
  • The users with the Delegated Access role will not have access to any other features of the SPA account.  For example they cannot send emails anonymously (their personal email is in the from line of the emails) from the SPA's Departmental bMail account, set up Delegated Access for other users or add/remove Direct Members from the SPA account.
  • Direct members of the SPA can set up the Delegated Access role for the SPA's Departmental bMail account to themselves so they can view/send emails and access the bMail without having to log out of their personal bMail accounts from the pull down menu. To send emails anonymously from the SPA's Departmental bMail account a Direct Member must be logged in as the CalNet SPA.
  • For more information, please consult with the bConnected team at bConnected.berkeley.edu.

Contact Us

To create SPAs and manage membership, use the Special Purpose Accounts Admin App. 

If you have any questions regarding SPA CalNet IDs, contact itcsshelp@berkeley.edu.