How to change admin rights for your Dropbox team

Updated Aug 07, 2024
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The information in this article applies to certain types of admins on Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise.

On team 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 Dropbox Standard or Business team all have global permissions as team admins. Admins on Dropbox Advanced, Business Plus, 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. Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console.
  3. Click Members.
  4. Click the “” (ellipsis) next to the member you want to make an admin.
  5. Click Make admin
  6. Select the correct admin permissions level in the pop-up window and click Add.
  7. Click Ok. 

How to remove an admin

  1. Log 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 modify.
  4. Click the “” (ellipsis) next to the member you want to remove as an admin.
  5. Click Change role. 
  6. Click Remove admin role. 
  7. Click Ok.
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Note: There must always be at least one team admin.

How to change admin permissions

  1. Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console.
  3. Click Members
  4. Click the “” (ellipsis) next to the member whose admin permissions you want to change.
  5. Click Change role. 
  6. Select the correct admin permissions level in the pop-up window and click Change
  7. Click Ok.
     

How to assign a Dropbox Replay admin

If a team uses Dropbox Replay, its team admins will automatically be assigned as admins in Replay. Admins cannot be assigned for Replay alone.

To assign a specific team member as a Dropbox Replay admin, they need to be added as a team admin in the admin console.

Learn more about viewing team admins in Replay.
 

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. Scroll to the right to see all admin types.

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 Signatures page settings

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Manage Send and track 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

Log in as member

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. Log in with your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Click Top-level content management.
  5. Check the box next to the type of admins you’d like to grant permissions to.
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