How to painlessly share a GMail account

Question

I want to create a GMail account to be used collectively by a group of people. The idea is that we want to be able to log in and read and send e-mails from the account.

We are facing an issue, though. When one of us logs in from a new location (or sometimes an old one!) we are challenged by Google to prove our identity, and we depend on the registered phone. We then need to pester the owner of the phone so that we can pass the security challenge.

Is there a way in which we can have a group of people use the same GMail account without having to rely on one of us being available to validate log-in attempts?

Answer 1

Short answer

Use Gmail delegation or another "solution" like using a Google Group as a collaborative inbox.

Explanation

You could try to share the 2-step verification codes through instant messaging or using a phone to confirm that the access is valid but this could open your account to risks. Also if several of you access the account at the same time this could trigger some abuse prevention/security measures, so there is no really reliable and officially supported way to do this.

It's worth to note that Google choose of words are intended to help users in a easy to understand way but this assumes that people are using their products in simple ways. On Set up mail delegation we can find

You can grant access to your Gmail account by adding a delegate. This person can read, send, and delete messages for you.

But what it actually mean is that you can grant access to your Gmail inbox. Google accounts are used to give user access to their Gmail inbox but they are intended to be used by individuals and the security measures are made in place considering this.

If Gmail delegation doesn't work for you consider to use Google Group as a collaborative inbox. Note: if don't have a G Suite account but you are open to use a @googlegroup.com email address this could be a feasible option.