Set up and troubleshoot Skype for Business Online delegation

Important

Skype for Business Online operated by 21Vianet in China will be retired on October 1, 2023. If you haven't upgraded your Skype for Business Online users yet, they will be automatically scheduled for an assisted upgrade. If you want to upgrade your organization to Teams yourself, we strongly recommend that you begin planning your upgrade path today. Remember that a successful upgrade aligns technical and user readiness, so be sure to leverage our upgrade guidance as you navigate your journey to Teams.

Skype for Business Online, excluding the service operated by 21Vianet in China, was retired on July 31, 2021.

This article explains how to set up and troubleshoot Skype for Business Online delegation. This article gives you guidance for setup recommendations, best practices, and troubleshooting steps.

Guidelines and requirements

Guidelines for delegation

Setting up and getting delegation to work correctly depends on you following these guidelines:

  • You must be using the Skype for Business 2015 full client with the latest updates or the Skype for Business 2016 full client.

  • You must be using the Outlook 2013 client with the latest updates or the Outlook 2016 client.

  • Make sure that the delegator and delegate computers have one Outlook mail profile that is the primary or the default profile. That mail profile should contain only one account.

  • Skype for Business for the delegator and the delegate should be Online users. Also, the Exchange Server mailboxes for each account must either both be Online or both be on-premises.

  • Both the delegator and delegate should be using the same major version of Outlook.

  • The EnableExchangeDelegateSync attribute value should be set to true in the client policy. You can verify this setting by running the Get-CSClientPolicy cmdlet in the Skype for Business Online PowerShell module.

  • Both the delegator and delegate must be signed in to Skype for Business and Outlook at the same time on different workstations.

  • Shared mailboxes aren't supported for Skype for Business Online delegation. This is because the shared mailbox doesn't have the sendonbehalf access control list (ACL).

Skype for Business client version support

Outlook 2013 Outlook 2016
Lync/Skype for Business Basic Client Not supported Not supported
Skype for Business 2015 Supported Supported
Skype for Business 2016 Supported Supported

Licensing requirements

Enterprise E3 licensing scenario

License Clients Notes
Enterprise E3
Lync 2013 (Skype for Business 2015) used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Skype for Business 2016 used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Skype for Business Basic client doesn't support delegation.
For Mac clients, you can delegate calls but not meetings.
Enterprise E3 with Office 365 Phone System + Office 365 xCalling Plan
Lync 2013 (Skype for Business 2015) used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Skype for Business 2016 used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Lync for Mac 2011
Skype for Business Basic client doesn't support delegation.
For Mac clients, you can delegate calls but not meetings.

Enterprise E5 licensing scenario

License Clients Notes
Enterprise E5
Lync 2013 (Skype for Business 2015) used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016.
Skype for Business 2016 used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Skype for Business Basic client doesn't support delegation.
For Mac clients, you can delegate calls but not meetings.
Enterprise E5 plus Office 365 Calling Plan
Skype for Business for Mac 2016
Lync 2013 (Skype for Business 2015) used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Skype for Business 2016 used with Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016
Lync for Mac 2011
Skype for Business Basic client doesn't support delegation.
For Mac clients, you can delegate calls but not meetings.

Set up and verify delegation

To set up Skype for Business Online delegation, follow these steps:

For Windows clients

Call Forwarding tab

  1. Select Tools > Options > Call Forwarding Settings.

  2. Select Edit my delegate members.

  3. Select Add, select the delegate that you want to add, and then select OK.

No Call Forwarding tab

  1. In Outlook, select File > Account Settings > Delegate Access > Add.

  2. Locate and then add the name of the person who is going to be the delegate.

  3. Select the Calendar menu, and then select Editor (can read, create, and modify items).

For Mac clients - Lync

Call Forwarding tab

  • If the client doesn't have a Call Forwarding tab that has the Edit my Delegate Members link, and the delegator is located on a Mac computer, the delegator must sign in to a Windows-based computer in order to set up the delegation. This is because Mac clients can't make MAPI connections, and this is a requirement to establish Skype for Business delegation from Outlook.

Verify success

If the setup is successful, the delegate should see the You were added as a delegate for < Name> message and also that the People I Manage Calls For group is created. The delegator should see that the Delegates group is created.

Note

Delegation permissions usually appear within 30 minutes of the setup process. However, this process can take up to 24 hours to complete.

Troubleshooting

Common issues

  • Issue 1 The delegate entry continues to appear in the People I Manage Calls For group after the delegator has removed the delegate from the Outlook client.

    • Resolution 1 On the Skype for Business client, right-click the delegate in the Delegates group, and then select Remove from Group.

  • Issue 2 After delegate access is granted through the Outlook client, neither the confirmation message nor the People I Manage Calls For group appear for the delegate.

    • Resolution 2 Remove the delegation from the Outlook client, wait about 15 minutes for replication, and then add the delegate again.

Other common issues

  • Delegation doesn't work if the threshold of 25 delegators and 25 delegates is exceeded.

  • The Skype for Business Basic client isn't supported.

    Note

    If you install the Skype for Business Basic client, it will remove and break delegation.

  • If the MAPI Status value isn't OK, make sure that the SIP and SMTP values match.

    Note

    It can take several minutes for the MAPI status to display as OK after you first start Skype for Business and Outlook.

  • Creating a security group and adding delegation permissions for that security group isn't supported.

  • MAPI is unavailable. See "MAPI unavailable" error in Skype for Business 2016 client.

  • The Exchange Online mailbox isn't accessible through the Skype for Business client. If this occurs, run the Outlook connectivity test to make sure that it passes.

Set up Skype for Business Online

Let Skype for Business users add Skype contacts