How to change ownership of OneDrive content before deleting user

What happens when someone with ownership of a OneDrive folder is leaving the organisation or is moving to a different role? Although there is a way to restore the content from their folder once the user has been deleted from OneDrive, the downside of this is that after 30 days, this option disappears and you will no longer be able to access the content that was inside the folder. It is good practise to change ownership of the folder before deleting the user. In this blog post I will be highlighting how you can change the ownership of a OneDrive folder before deleting the original owner as a user.

Changing OneDrive ownership of a folder:

  1. Find the folder you want to change the ownership of and click on the ellipses
  2. From the drop down list, select ‘Manage Access’
  3. From the ‘Manage Access’ panel, click on ‘advanced’ at the bottom of the window
  4. Under the ‘Permissions’ tab, select ‘Manage Parent’
  5. Then, click on ‘Grant Permissions’
  6. Add the person you would like to give ownership to
  7. From the bottom of the window, select ‘Show options’
  8. Under ‘Select a permission level’, choose ‘Full control’
  9. Click ‘Share’

After you have changed the ownership of the folder, you can now proceed to delete the original owner as a OneDrive user. Please note that in order to delete a user from OneDrive, you must have the right permission level as not all users are authorised to delete a user. 

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Other ways to transfer OneDrive content to another user 

Unfortunately, there is no way to directly enter a folder’s properties and change the ownership of it as of yet. As I briefly mentioned before, one way around this is to access the contents of the folder and restore it after the user has been deleted. However this can be quite a risky method as the content will automatically delete after 30 days and will no longer be available to restore. 

Another way to transfer the contents of a OneDrive folder to a new owner is to manually save all the files onto your hard drive, and then give this to the new owner who will then create a new folder in their OneDrive and upload the files into it. This will allow them to add in all the files that were in the original folder. Although this seems like a very straightforward task, it may not always be so simple. Firstly, because saving files into a hard drive, and then uploading them to a different users folder can be a very time consuming task. Another thing to consider with this method is the amount of items within the folder. If you have a large amount of files to transfer to a new owner , this may not be the best method as you will need a large amount of storage space on your hard drive.

The most effective and time saving method to change the ownership of a folder is to grant a user full control of the folder and then delete the original owner. I have outlined a detailed guide on how you can do this below.

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Step by step guide to change OneDrive ownership of a folder:

  1. Find the folder you want to change the ownership of and click on the ellipses

Go to OneDrive and sign in using your credentials. Then locate the file you would like to change the ownership for and click on the ellipses next to it.

  1. From the drop down list, select ‘Manage Access’

When the drop down list appears next to it, select ‘Manage access’.

  1. From the ‘Manage Access’ panel, click on ‘advanced’ at the bottom of the window

When the new panel appears on the right hand side, select ‘Advanced from the bottom of the window. 

  1. Under the ‘Permissions’ tab, select ‘Manage Parent’

You will then be taken to a new tab. Ensure that you are on the permissions section and the select ‘Manage Parent’

  1. Then, click on ‘Grant Permissions’

From the top panel again, select ‘Grant Permissions’ from the ‘Grant’ section of the panel.

  1. Add the person you would like to give ownership to

When the small window appears, ensure that the ‘Invite people’ tab is selected from the left hand side panel. Then type in the email address of the person you would like to give ownership of the file to.

  1. From the bottom of the window, select ‘Show options’

Underneath the box, click on ‘Show options’.

  1. Under ‘Select a permission level’, choose ‘Full control’

Then, under ‘Select a permission level’ click on the small arrow to reveal the options. From the drop down list, select ‘Full Control’

  1. Click ‘Share’

Once you have added a new owner and have given them full control, click ‘Share’ to confirm the changes. You can now move on to delete the previous owner from OneDrive.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any further questions and we’ll be happy to help.

Siddra Afzal

Siddra Afzal has been a researcher and content writer at Business Tech Planet since 2021. Siddra formerly wrote newsletters for the NHS and was a PR and Communications Officer. She now combines her passion for photography and video editing with her knowledge of communications, writing, and research to the art of crafting the perfect tech guides for BTP. You can connect with Siddra on LinkedIn.

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