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Assigning administrator permissions

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When you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you are designated as the administrator. The administrator has access to all features in the administration center, including the ability to assign administrator permissions to others.

Administrators can do the following:

  • View company and user information

  • Manage support tickets

  • Reset user passwords

  • Reset their own passwords

  • Create and manage user views

  • Create, edit, and delete users and groups, and manage user licenses

  • Access billing information

  • Manage domains

  • Manage company information

  • Assign administrator permissions to others

Note

If you didn’t purchase Office 365 directly from Microsoft, you won’t be able to make billing changes. For billing issues, contact the administrator at the company where you purchased your subscription.

This topic describes administrator permissions for Office 365. For information about administrator roles and permissions for other services in Office 365 such as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online, see the wiki article Permissions in Office 365 FAQ.

What do you want to do?

  • Assign or remove administrator permissions for an existing user

  • Assign or remove administrator permissions for multiple users

Assign or remove administrator permissions for an existing user

Watch the video (3:00)

Use this procedure to assign or remove permissions for an existing user.

Important

Administrators who forget their passwords can use the password self-reset process to regain access to their accounts. To use this feature, include both a mobile phone number that can receive a text message and an alternate email address that’s not connected to the Office 365 subscription. For more information, see Reset your administrator password.

  1. In the header, click Admin.

  2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

  3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the name of the user whose administrator permissions you want to change, and then click Edit.

  4. Click the Settings tab. Under Assign permissions, select No to remove permissions or Yes to grant permissions. If you select Yes, provide additional information on the Settings tab and on the Details tab as explained in the next two steps. This email address is used for important notifications.

  5. In the Alternate email address box, type an email address that is not connected to Office 365. This email address is used for important notifications, including password self-reset, so the user must be able to access the email account even if the user cannot access Office 365.

    Note

    If you don’t want to receive product-related communications at your alternate email address, change your contact preferences on the My profile page. For more information, see Change your contact preferences.

  6. Click the Details tab. Under Additional details, in the Mobile phone box, type the number of a mobile phone—including the country code—that can receive a text (SMS) message, if the user has one. This phone number is also used to reset your administrator password.

    Note

    You need a mobile phone that’s capable of receiving text messages for password reset only if one or both of the following applies to you:

    • Your organization has a custom domain that you’ve set up to use with Office 365.

    • Your Office 365 account is synchronized through directory synchronization.

  7. When you’ve finished, click Save.

Assign or remove administrator permissions for multiple users

Use the following instructions to assign or remove permissions for multiple existing users.

Note

You cannot assign administrator permissions during the process of adding multiple users with bulk import.

  1. In the header, click Admin.

  2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

  3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the names of the users that you want to assign administrator permissions to or remove administrator permissions from, and then click Edit.

  4. On the Details page, click Next.

  5. On the Settings page, under Assign permissions, select No to remove permissions or Yes to grant permissions, and then click Next.

  6. On the Assign licenses page, click Submit.

  7. On the Results page, review your results. When you have completed your review, click Finish.

See Also

About administering your account
Create or edit users
Add multiple users with bulk import