How to change admin rights for your Dropbox team

On Dropbox Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise accounts, there are admins and team members. Admins can manage membership to the team, change settings, and manage billing. Dropbox recommends that all Dropbox team accounts have at least two admins.

Admins on a Standard team all have global permissions as team admins. Admins on Advanced or Enterprise teams can have global permissions as a team admin or a more limited set of permissions. 

Not using Dropbox yet? See how Dropbox makes managing file permissions easy.

How to add or change an admin

  1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console.
  3. Click Members.
  4. Click the gear icon for the member you want to make an admin.
  5. Select Add admin permissions from the menu.
  6. Confirm you’ve selected the correct admin permissions level in the pop-up window.

How to remove an admin

  1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console.
  3. Click Members, and then locate the member whose account you'd like to delete.
  4. Click the gear icon beside the member's name, and select either Remove admin permissions or Delete user.
  5. If you're deleting a user, select whether or not you'd like to use remote wipe to remove any files from the user’s linked devices the next time they come online, and then click Delete.

Note: There must always be at least one team admin.

How to change admin permissions

  1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console.
  3. Click Members. 
    • You’ll see their current role in the User Type column.
  4. Click the gear icon next to the member name.
  5. Click Add admin permissions or Change admin permissions.

Types of admins

There are eight pre-built admin roles, each with a different set of permissions. 

  • Team admins can access all permissions.
  • User management admins can add, remove, and manage team member accounts.
  • Support admins can help team members with limited tasks, including resetting passwords.
  • Billing admins can make payments and renew contracts.
  • Content admins can set content permissions and manage content.
  • Compliance admins can manage retention policies and legal holds. This admin role is only available to teams that have purchased the Data Governance Add-On.
  • Reporting admins can create reports on team activity and member data.
  • Security admins can manage security alerts, external sharing, and security risks.

Refer to the table below for a detailed list of permissions for each admin type.

Org-wide settings Team admin User management admin Support admin Billing admin Content admin Compliance admin Reporting admin Security admin
Enroll in early-access programs Yes No No No No No No Yes
Global authentication settings Yes No No No No No No Yes
3rd-party app linking Yes No No No No No No Yes
Change global sharing controls Yes No No No No No No Yes
Create/remove team folders Yes No* No* No Yes Yes No Yes
Manage Dropbox Paper settings Yes No No No No No No Yes
Manage Device approvals Yes No No No No No No Yes
Manage Network control settings Yes No No No No No No Yes
Create company-managed groups Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Adjust group members Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Manage sharing links owned by team members Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes
Manage file editing app settings Yes No No No No No No Yes
Manage data retention and disposition policies Yes No No No No Yes No No
Manage security alerts Yes No No No No No No Yes
Manage automatic data classification Yes No No No No No No Yes
Member management Team admin User management admin Support admin Billing admin Content admin Compliance admin Reporting admin Security admin
Sign in as user Yes No No No No No No No
Initiate domain invites Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Invite/remove team members Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Change team member email Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Send invitation reminders Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Transfer accounts Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Delete non-admin members Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Reset non-admin passwords Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Close non-admin web sessions Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Close admin web sessions Yes No No No No No No Yes
Create/assign admin roles Yes No No No No No No No
Suspend/remove admin roles Yes No No No No No No No
Reset admin passwords Yes No No No No No No No
Create/manage/archive team folders from team folder manager Yes No* No* No Yes Yes No Yes
Manage legal holds Yes No No No No Yes No No
Viewing permissions Team admin User management admin Support admin Billing admin Content admin Compliance admin Reporting admin Security admin
Non-admin activity reports Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes
View members tab Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
View company activity feed Yes No No No No No Yes Yes
View dashboard Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
View team member profiles Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Generate per-user activity logs Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes
Account settings Team admin User management admin Support admin Billing Content admin Compliance admin Reporting admin Security admin
Add licenses Yes No No Yes No No No No
Access billing tab Yes No No Yes No No No No
Access help & contact support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

*Team admins on Dropbox Enterprise can grant these permissions. To grant these permissions to user management admins and support admins:

  1. Sign in with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin Console in the left sidebar.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Click Content Management.
  5. Check the box next to the type of admins you’d like to grant permissions to.
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