Shared ownership of a document

Dear @Kearns Fiona, 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

I understand you’ve given your team edit access to a Word file and want to make sure the document can be “owned” by the team if you ever leave. 

In Microsoft 365, file ownership depends on where the file is stored. When a document is kept in a user’s personal OneDrive, that OneDrive account is considered the sole owner. Even if you grant others edit permissions, the underlying ownership stays with your OneDrive. If your user account is ever removed, the files in your OneDrive will be retained for a limited period (depending on your admin’s retention settings) and then deleted unless they are moved to a shared location beforehand. 

Since you haven’t specified whether the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, or whether you are an IT admin in your organization, please review the following workarounds that can help you address the issue: 

Option 1: Store the document in a shared SharePoint library or Microsoft Teams channel  This is the most reliable solution because SharePoint and Teams are designed for shared ownership. 

Open your SharePoint team site or open Microsoft Teams. 

If using Teams, select the appropriate team and channel (files here are stored in the connected SharePoint site). 

Upload your Word document into the Documents library or the channel’s Files tab. 

 Anyone who is an Owner or Member of the site or team will automatically inherit permissions. 

Your team will now have continuous access, independent of any individual employee account. 

You can open the channel’s document library from Teams, which will take you directly to the SharePoint site. 

Alternatively, if the document is currently in your OneDrive, you can transfer it directly to a shared library. 

Go to OneDrive on the web. 

Locate the document. 

Select the file and choose Move to or Copy to from the menu. 

Select the target SharePoint site or Teams channel library. 

Once moved, ownership shifts to the organization-managed shared location, ensuring the team retains control. 

Option 2: Assign multiple Owners on the SharePoint site 

If you are currently the only owner or site administrator of the SharePoint site or Teams channel, it is recommended to assign one or two additional site owners to ensure continuity. 

Note: This step requires IT admin permissions. 

To add more site owners: 

Go to the SharePoint Admin Center (Microsoft 365 admin center > Show all > SharePoint) and select Sites > Active sites (if you have access). 

Open the target site. 

Under Membership, add additional users or groups as Site Owners (Full Control). 

Having multiple owners ensures that administrative control of the site is maintained even if one owner leaves the organization. 

Option 3: Share the original file with your colleagues 

You can send the original file to your colleagues through Outlook or Microsoft Teams. They can then upload the file to their own OneDrive and manage sharing permissions with the team or alternatively upload it to a shared location such as a SharePoint library or a Teams channel so everyone can collaborate from a central, accessible location. 

As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into performing deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.  

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.    

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you. 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have any extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.