Manage SharePoint teamsite without being listed in memberlist

Question

I manage the SharePoint environment of 10 teamsites of a small organisation and have access to the SharePoint admin center.
Is it possible that I manage the teamsites without my name is showing up in the memberlist of the sites?
I have to explain why my name is there and if I can read the e-mail of the Group.
In the Group mail options I have set that I do not follow the mail of the Group.
What is the best way if the groupmembers cannot manage the teamsite themselves?

Answer 1

Hi @JanSp ,
Great to know that and thanks for sharing the update here.
According to my research and test, the solution you have found is feasible.

By the way, since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others.". and according to the scenario introduced here: Answering your own questions on Microsoft Q&A, I would make a brief summary of this thread:

[Manage SharePoint teamsite without being listed in memberlist]

Issue Symptom:
I manage the SharePoint environment of 10 teamsites of a small organisation and have access to the SharePoint admin center.
Is it possible that I manage the teamsites without my name is showing up in the memberlist of the sites?

Current status:
In our environment I see that the Owner of the MS365 Group is also Member.
I found when I change in SharePoint Online the role of a Member to Owner, the user wil have both roles.
In MS365 Admin center I gave myself the role of Owner and not Member of the Group and remove the direct site permission in SharePoint.

I found that a user with the role Owner and not Member has still access to the SharePoint site to do management tasks.
And with this setup there is no access denied for the startpage of the site and there is now at least 1 Owner.
When a user is Owner and not member of a Group it means he has no access to the Group mailbox and when a user expand the distributionlist only the members are shown.
It seams to me that this is for me a better solution, so being owner without being member of a MS365 Group.

You could click the "Accept Answer" button for this summary to close this thread, and this can make it easier for other community members to see the useful information when reading this thread. Thanks for your understanding!

Answer 2

Hi @JanSp ,
Before answering your question, I have a question to confirm with you:
By the member list of the Site, do you mean the list shown in the picture?

If I'm right, you should be at least a SharePoint Administrator based on your description. As a SharePoint Admin, you can manage the Site in the SharePoint Admin center. However, if you are not in the member list of the site, you do not have permission to enter the site, that is to say, you cannot enter the site to perform any operations.

Can you provide more information or screenshots with no private information about whether it is possible to read the emails of the Group?
Team members cannot manage their own sites, which means that there is no user in the entire Site as the Site Owner or has the permission of Full Control? If it is, by design of the SharePoint, there is no way to manage it. In order to ensure the security of the SharePoint site, the Permission settings must be strictly adhered to.

Here are some articles and posts for your reference:
https://sharepointmaven.com/4-security-roles-of-a-sharepoint-site/
https://rolandwanner.com/how-to-use-sharepoint-groups-and-microsoft-365-groups-in-your-project-site/
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/customize-sharepoint-site-permissions
Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.
Regards,
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Answer 3

Your question: Yes, this is the list of members I mean.
Each Group has multiple members, the members cannot manage the Team Sites themselfes (insufficient knowledge, security).
At the moment I am the Site Owner of the Groups to set up, modify, manage and answer user questions.
I don't need the SharePoint Admin center for this work now.
Due to this design if they e.g. open the Group in Outlook (distribution list), they see my name and ask if I read their email.
I tell them I don't because I don't follow the Group in my personal inbox, but I could read it if I open the Group mailbox what I do not (they have to believe me).
My question is, is it possible to be the Site Owner but not a member of the Group so I can't read the Group mail and documents?
If this is not possible in this setup, is there a better way to manage and support the Group members without R/W access to their data?
The site members should work with the content and I should work with the site.

Do you understand my question?

Answer 4

Hi @JanSp ,
According to your description, there is a workaround you can try.
You first give your account the Full Control permission on each site:
Site permissions-->Advanced permissions settings-->Grant Permissions.

Then remove your account from the group:
Click Group in the upper right corner and select Remove from group.

Regards,
*
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Answer 5

This works for me, for me you are a legend!
I think Microsoft calls this role: "Additional admin" in site-permissions

I can manage group membership in the admin center.