How to change channel ownership in Microsoft Teams?

Corey asks:

As a team admin I need to change who’s in charge of our project channels. How do I keep the channel owner list fully updated – including adding and removing owning users as needed for the different panel. THis is absolutely critical as we are going through some restructuring.

Our answer:

Managing channel ownership in Microsoft Teams is a pretty straightforward process. Before you go ahead and modify your team ownership, kindly note the following:

  • You will need to have at least one channel owner defined at all times.
  • Only the team owners or others who are existing channel owners can manage channel ownership.
  • Kind of obvious but – channel owners must be members of the team.
  • You might want to assign only employees from your company and not guests to be channel owners.

Change the channel ownership in Teams

Here’s the step by step process:

  • Launch Microsoft Teams (either desktop or web versions) and find your team.
  • Now go ahead and expand your team to find your channel in the channel list.
  • Click the three dots (…) next to the channel name.
  • Select the “Manage channel” option from the dropdown menu.
  • In the “Channel owners” section, you can:
    • Add new owners: by clicking on “Add,” search for team members, select them, and click “Add” again.
    • Remove current owners: Click the “X” next to their name.
  • That’s it 🙂

Best Practices for channel ownership management

  • Remember to have at least two owners per channel for backup.
  • Regularly review and update channel ownership as needed.
  • Avoid having too many owners to prevent confusion.

Can’t change channel ownership?

  • Ensure you have the necessary permissions. Ask your Microroft team admin if not.
  • Check that the person you’re trying to add is a team member. If for some reason you can’t remove an owner, make sure there’s at least one other owner first.