Transferring Site Ownership

This guidance is for standalone SharePoint sites, both communication and teams sites. For SharePoint sites that are associated with a team in MS Teams, see this page about transferring ownership of a team.

To transfer ownership of a SharePoint site, you must give someone else the "Owner" role or "Full control" (depending on the type of site). A single SharePoint site can have multiple owners. 

  1. Visit office.com and log in with your Tufts credentials.
  2. Click the App Launcher button and select SharePoint.Selecting SharePoint from the App Launcher
  3. Select the site you want to manage from the lefthand menu. If you don’t see it, you may need to click See all for a more complete list.Selecting a site
  4. Once on the site, click the Share button in the top right corner.Share button
  5. If the person you are transferring ownership to is NOT a member of the site yet, go to step 6.

    If the person you are transferring ownership to is already a member of the site, simply find them in the list, click on the dropdown menu under their name, and select Full Control. This will make them a site owner.    giving full control to an existing site member
  6. To add the person to your site, start typing their name into the search box. Suggestions will appear. Select the person you want to pass ownership to.searching for someone to add to a communication site
  7. Click on the dropdown menu under their name and select Full control. You can also send them an email with a custom message.giving a new team member full control
  8. Click Share.
  9. The new owner you added will now be listed as a site owner with full control.Example of a new owner listed on a communication site 

    Once the other person has been made a site owner, you can remove the ownership role from yourself or they can do it for you later. To do this, click on the dropdown menu under your own name and select one of the following.

    • Read – Makes you a “site visitor” who can view the site but not make edits.

    • Edit – Makes you a “site member” with read and edit access.

    • Remove – Completely removes your access to the site.

      Adjusting your own status on a communication site

       

  1. Visit office.com and log in with your Tufts credentials.
  2. Click the App Launcher button and select SharePoint.Selecting SharePoint from the App Launcher
  3. Select the site you want to manage from the lefthand menu. If you don’t see it, you may need to click See all for a more complete list.Selecting a site
  4. Once on the site, click on the member count in the top right corner.Member count button on team site
  5. If the person you are transferring ownership to is NOT a member of the site yet, go to step 6.

    If the person you are transferring ownership to is already a member of the site, simply find them in the list, click on the dropdown menu under their name, and select Owner.    Adjusting permissions of an existing site member
     
  6. To add the person to your site, start by clicking Add members.Add members button
  7. Start typing in the person’s name. Suggestions will appear. Select the person you want to pass ownership to.Adding a new site member
  8. Click on the dropdown menu under their name, select Owner, then click Save.Giving owner role to a new site member 

    Once the other person has been made a site owner, you can remove the ownership role from yourself or they can do it for you later. To do this, click on the dropdown menu under your own name and select one of the following:

    • Member – Makes you a member who can view and edit site contents (files, pages, etc.)

    • Remove from group – Completely removes your access to the site.
       

      Adjusting your own status on a team site