Help Changing Site Permissions on Sharepoint

Question

I created a sharepoint site called 'Communication Site' and am unable to change the title of the site because I don't have full access. Can you change the site owner from 'Global Administrator' to me?

Answer 1

Dear @Alana Dorcz, 

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

I understand that you created a site called “Communication Site” but cannot change its title because the option is not showing. Normally, the person who creates a SharePoint site is automatically added as an Owner, which gives Full Control. You can confirm your role by selecting the “<Numbers> Members” link in the top right corner. 

• Users with Owner or Designer permissions can change a site’s name under Settings and Site information. If you do not see this option, your account does not currently have the required permissions. 
• Only a Microsoft 365 Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator in your organization can update site ownership in the SharePoint admin center. They can add you as a Site Owner or Site Admin or change the Primary Admin for the site. These changes require tenant-level access and for security reasons Microsoft Support cannot make them directly. 

I would like to clarify that the Global Administrator role is tenant-wide and not needed for managing a single site. A site can be fully managed by Site Owners or Site Admins without assigning broader admin roles. 

Here are some options you can consider: 

Option 1: Ask another site owner to update your role or permissions 

If there are other site owners on the SharePoint site, they can adjust your permissions directly. A site owner has Full Control and can manage access for all members. 

Step 1: Go to the SharePoint site. 

Step 2: Select the gear icon and choose Site permissions. 

Step 3: Select Advanced permissions settings. 

Step 4: Find your account in the list. 

Step 5: Change your permission level to Full Control or add your account to the Owners group. 

Once your role is updated, you will have the necessary permissions to change the site name, manage settings and update other site details. 

This option is usually the fastest because it does not require involvement from a Microsoft 365 admin, as long as another owner is available. 

Option 2: Add your account as a Site Owner (SharePoint admin center) 

Note: If you are an end-user, please reach out to your organization’s IT administrator to complete these steps. 

Step 1: An admin signs in to the SharePoint admin center and goes to Active sites. 

Step 2: Select your site and open the Membership panel. 

Step 3: Add your account under Site owners or Site admins. 

This will grant you Full Control for that specific site. 

As community moderators, we don’t have the ability to access customer tenants or make administrative changes, such as modifying SharePoint site ownership, because those actions can only be performed by your organization’s Microsoft 365 or SharePoint administrators. 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. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

---

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. 

Answer 2

Changing the site owner from Global Administrator to another user cannot be done directly by a non-admin user. A SharePoint or Microsoft 365 admin must update ownership/permissions for the site.

To get the ability to change the site title on a SharePoint communication site, an admin needs to do one of the following:

1. Make the account a Site Owner (preferred for this scenario)
   • A SharePoint admin goes to the SharePoint admin center → Active sites.
   • Selects the communication site.
   • Selects Membership on the command bar.
   • In the details panel, adds the account under Site owners or Site admins.
   • After this, the account will have full control of the site.
2. Keep Global Administrator as tenant admin but grant this account site-level permissions
   • Instead of changing the Global Administrator, the admin can simply add this account as a site owner as above.
   • Global Administrator remains a tenant-wide role; site ownership is managed separately at the site level.

Once the account is a site owner or has full control, the title can be changed directly from the site:

1. Open the communication site.
2. Select Settings (gear icon) → Site information.
3. Edit Site name and (optionally) Site description.
4. Select Save.

If Site information is not visible, that indicates the account still does not have sufficient permissions and an admin must adjust them as described.

---

References:

• Change a site's title, description, logo, and site information settings
• Manage site admins
• Add or remove site admins in the new SharePoint admin center