SharePoint Online: How To Change Site Owner (Primary Admin ...

Requirement: Change the Site Owner in SharePoint Online using PowerShell.

As teams and projects evolve in any organization, it becomes necessary to officially transfer ownership of SharePoint Online sites and associated permissions to new users.

Whether due to organizational restructuring, role changes, or simply part of routine maintenance, the ability to seamlessly change the site owner in SharePoint Online is essential for administrators and IT professionals.

Table of contents

• How to Change the Site Owner in SharePoint Online?
  • Steps to Change the Site Owner in SharePoint
  • Change SharePoint Site Owner using PowerShell
  • Change Site Owner for All Non-Group Connected Sites in the Tenant
• PnP PowerShell to Set Site Owner in SharePoint Online
• Managing Site Owner for Microsoft 365 Group-Connected Sites
  • PnP PowerShell to Add Owner to the Associated Microsoft 365 Group
• Wrapping up

How to Change the Site Owner in SharePoint Online?

In this blog post, we will show you how to change the primary site owner in the SharePoint site. We will walk you through the process step by step and show you how to change the site owner in SharePoint Online using PowerShell. Let’s get started!

How do I change ownership of a SharePoint Online site? Site Owners of a SharePoint Online site collection can be changed through SharePoint Online Admin Center or PowerShell.

As a side note, To change the ownership of a SharePoint Online site, you must have site admin permissions in Microsoft 365.

Steps to Change the Site Owner in SharePoint

To change site owner in SharePoint Online, follow these steps:

You must be either Global Administrator or SharePoint Online Administrator to change site owners in SharePoint Online!

1. Sign in to Office 365 Admin Center (https://portal.office.com/), and click on the “SharePoint Admin Center” link from the “Admin Centers” section.
2. You’ll be landing in the Site Collections list in the SharePoint Admin center (https://YourDomain-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/online/SiteCollections.aspx) with all site collections listed.
3. Select the site collection from the list of site collections to which you want to change the site owner >> From the ribbon, click on “Permissions” and then “Manage Admins”.
4. On the “Manage Administrators” panel, You can change the primary site collection administrator – Site owner by setting them as “Primary Admin”. You can also configure additional site collection administrators.
5. Enter the name of the primary site collection administrator and Click on the Save button once you are done with your changes.

   

You can add only ONE site owner (Primary Site Collection Admin) in SharePoint Online! SharePoint Online has no secondary admin, but you can add more than one “Site collection Administrator” and grant them site permissions through SharePoint site settings.

Now, let’s see how to change the site owner in SharePoint Online using PowerShell.

Change SharePoint Site Owner using PowerShell

We can change the site owner using the Set-SPOSite cmdlet. Here is an example: Set the variables according to your environment.

Copy #Variables $AdminCenterURL = "https://Crescent-admin.sharepoint.com" $SiteCollURL="https://Crescent.sharepoint.com/Sites/marketing" $SiteOwner = "[email protected]" #Connect to SharePoint Online Connect-SPOService -url $AdminCenterURL -Credential (Get-Credential) #sharepoint online powershell set site owner Set-SPOSite -Identity $SiteCollURL -Owner $SiteOwner -NoWait

Please note, You should use this only for Non-Group connected sites. Executing this script on a Microsoft 365 group-connected site will set the given user as the site owner and remove the existing Office 365 group from the Site owner permissions.

Change Site Owner for All Non-Group Connected Sites in the Tenant

Make sure you set the parameters according to your environment and run the script. This cmdlet prompts you for credentials. Enter the Administrator’s credentials.

Copy #Parameters $AdminCenterURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com" $SiteOwner= "[email protected]" #Connect to SharePoint Online Admin Center Connect-SPOService -Url $AdminCenterURL -Credential (Get-Credential) #Get All site collections - Excluding certain templates and Group sites $SiteCollections = Get-SPOSite -Limit All | Where { $_.Template -NotIn ("SRCHCEN#0", "SPSMSITEHOST#0", "APPCATALOG#0", "POINTPUBLISHINGHUB#0", "EDISC#0", "STS#-1","GROUP#0")} #Loop through each site collection ForEach($Site in $SiteCollections) { #sharepoint online powershell change site owner Set-SPOSite -Identity $Site.url -Owner $SiteOwner Write-host "Added Site Owner to "$Site.Url }

This script updates the SharePoint Online Site Owner for all site collections – excluding group sites and specific sites like Search Center, app catalog, etc.

This article talks about adding a primary admin AKA primary site owner to a SharePoint Online site. In case, You are looking for adding someone to the Site Owner’s group (similar to site members, site visitor) with ‘Full control’ permissions, use: How to Grant Site Owner Permissions to a User in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?

PnP PowerShell to Set Site Owner in SharePoint Online

Use this PnP PowerShell script to set the site owner for a SharePoint Online site.

Copy #Parameters $AdminCenterURL ="https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com" $SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/purchase" $SiteOwner = "[email protected]" #Connect to Admnin Center Connect-PnPOnline -Url $AdminCenterURL -UseWebLogin #Get the Site $Site = Get-PnPTenantSite -Url $SiteURL #Update the Site Owner $Site.Owner = $SiteOwner $Site.Update() Invoke-PnPQuery

Managing Site Owner for Microsoft 365 Group-Connected Sites

In Microsoft 365 group-connected sites, the site owner is set to Group owner by default. So, to add a group owner, you have to add the user from the Admin Center as the group’s owner.

1. Login to SharePoint Admin Center >> Select the group site.
2. Click on “Permissions” from the toolbar >> Manage Group Owners.
3. Add a new user to the Owner list of the Group.

   

You can also add or remove the group members using the Microsoft 365 admin center.

PnP PowerShell to Add Owner to the Associated Microsoft 365 Group

As the Group connected site permissions are controlled at the Microsoft 365 group level, we must add an owner at the group level! Here is how:

Copy #Parameters $SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/CorporateBranding" $SiteOwner= "[email protected]" Try { #Connect to PnP Online Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive #Get the Site $Site = Get-PnPSite -Includes GroupId #Add Owner to Microsoft 365 Group connected to the site Add-PnPMicrosoft365GroupOwner -Identity $Site.GroupId -Users $SiteOwner Write-host "`tAdded Owner to the Associated Microsoft 365 Group!" -f Green } Catch { write-host -f Red "`tError:" $_.Exception.Message }

To add a group owner to all Microsoft 365 group-connected sites, use the following:

Copy #Parameters $AdminCenterURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com" $SiteOwner= "[email protected]" Try { #Connect to PnP Online Connect-PnPOnline -Url $AdminCenterURL -Interactive #Get all Microsoft 365 Group connected Sites $Sites = Get-PnPTenantSite | Where { $_.Template -like 'GROUP*'} #Iterate through sites and set site owner ForEach($Site in $Sites) { #Add Owner to Microsoft 365 Group connected to the site Add-PnPMicrosoft365GroupOwner -Identity $Site.GroupId -Users $SiteOwner Write-host -f Green "Added Owner to the Associated Microsoft 365 Group for "$Site.url } } Catch { write-host -f Red "`tError:" $_.Exception.Message }

Here is another post on adding users to the SharePoint Online site collection administrators group: PowerShell to Add Site Collection Administrators in SharePoint Online

Wrapping up

Changing a SharePoint Online site’s primary owner is a common administrative task as responsibilities shift. We’ve covered methods using the SharePoint admin center and PowerShell, each suited to different needs and scales.

For administrators managing a handful of sites, the SharePoint admin center offers a user-friendly interface for quick changes. Meanwhile, PowerShell scripts cater to those requiring bulk operations or automation to manage site ownership across numerous sites efficiently.

Whether you need to update site ownership due to employee departures, reassignments, or simply granting site steward responsibilities to new individuals, this guide should provide the essential instructions.

Related Posts