What a Microsoft Team Owner Is Responsible For

Questions

• What does a Microsoft Team owner actually have to do?
• What can Team owners do that members cannot?
• How many owners should a Microsoft Team have?
• Am I responsible for who can see my department's files in Teams?
• Who is responsible when someone deletes a folder in our Team?
• Is there a checklist for Microsoft Team owners?
• I was just made owner of a Team. Where do I start?
• How often should a Team owner review membership and guest access?
• Can a member add a guest to our Team, or does an owner have to do it?

Environment

This article applies to anyone listed as an owner of a Microsoft Team at Bowdoin. Every responsibility described here requires Team owner permissions, and members cannot carry them out.

• You are an owner of at least one Microsoft Team, and you know which department or project the Team serves. Sign in at office365.bowdoin.edu for the web app.
• Owner controls are available in the Microsoft Teams desktop app on Bowdoin-issued Windows 11 computers and on Bowdoin-issued Mac computers running macOS Sequoia (15.x), Tahoe (26.x), or newer, in Microsoft Teams on the web, and in the Microsoft Teams app on the current version of iPadOS. Personal devices are supported on a best-effort basis only.
• Menu placement for owner controls varies between versions of Microsoft Teams, so a control may sit under a different menu than a colleague sees.
• Not in scope: the individual procedures. Each task named here is documented in a separate article listed in the Related Articles section.
• Not in scope: creating a new Team. Contact the Bowdoin College Service Desk when a department needs a Team that does not exist yet.

Resolution

Owner controls that members do not have

Members of a Team can post messages, create standard channels, upload files, and add apps. Owners hold the controls that shape the Team itself. Only an owner can edit or delete the Team, add a guest, change Team-wide permissions for channels and tabs, archive or restore the Team, renew the Team when it is about to expire, and create shared channels.

Keep at least two owners of every Team

Every Team should have at least two owners, and this is the most important item on the page. A single owner is a single point of failure: expiration warnings go only to owners, and if the only owner leaves the College the Team becomes orphaned, so nobody can add members, change settings, or renew it. Add a second owner now rather than when someone gives notice. For the steps, see Manage Membership of a Team or Channel in the Related Articles section, and for recovering a Team that has already lost its owner, see When a Team Owner Leaves in the Related Articles section.

Review membership when people arrive and leave

Access to a Team follows the membership list, not the organizational chart. When someone joins the department, an owner adds them. When someone leaves the College or moves to another office, an owner removes them in the same week. No other office does this for a Team owner. For the steps, see Manage Membership of a Team or Channel in the Related Articles section, and to see what the current membership can actually reach, see Review Who Can See Your Team's Files in the Related Articles section.

Respond to Team expiration and renewal notices

Bowdoin's Teams expire after 180 days of inactivity, and Microsoft emails owners 30 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the expiration date. If nobody acts, the Team is deleted together with its SharePoint files, its OneNote notebook, and its Planner plans, and there is a 30-day window in which the Team can still be restored. For what the warning means and how to renew, see Your Team Is About to Expire in the Related Articles section.

Decide whether new work becomes a folder, a channel, or a separate Team

A Team owner decides how new work is organized. A folder is cheap and easy to undo, a channel is structural and changes how the Team looks to everyone, and a separate Team means a separate membership list and a separate SharePoint site. For adding and reorganizing channels, see Add, Move, and Remove Channels After Your Team Is Running in the Related Articles section, and for a layout to start from, see A Starter Folder Structure for a Department Team in the Related Articles section.

Set expectations about deleting files, and lock down what must not change

Anyone with edit access can delete a file or a folder for everyone in the Team, not only for themselves. Shared libraries work that way by design, and it is worth saying out loud to a new Team rather than letting people discover it. Deleted items are recoverable for 93 days from the recycle bin, and the steps are in How to Recover Documents in OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint in the Related Articles section. Where a folder should not be edited at all, lock the folder down rather than relying on habit, using Make a Microsoft Teams Folder Read-Only in the Related Articles section. To limit who may add or change files across the Team, see Restrict Microsoft Teams File Sharing to Team Owners Only in the Related Articles section.

Know where Teams channel files are actually stored

Channel files are not stored in Microsoft Teams. Channel files live in the Team's SharePoint site, and each private channel and each shared channel has its own separate SharePoint site so that its files stay restricted to that channel's members. Knowing where files sit is what lets a Team owner answer permissions questions correctly. For the full picture, see Understand Microsoft Teams: Channels, Permissions, and File Structure in the Related Articles section.

Handle guests and external sharing

Only a Team owner can add a guest to a Team. Guest access should be time-limited and reviewed, because a guest keeps access until someone removes it. For adding a guest, see Invite a Guest to a Team or Channel in the Related Articles section, and for changing or ending that access, see Extend or Remove Guest Access in OneDrive and Teams in the Related Articles section. To see what has already been shared outside Bowdoin, see List SharePoint or OneDrive Files Shared with External Users in the Related Articles section.

Keep restricted data out of a Team, or label it

Confirm that the data a Team holds is appropriate for the people on that Team's membership list. Where sensitive content does belong in a Team, label it so the protection travels with the file, which is covered in Add or Change Sensitivity Labels for Files and Teams in Microsoft 365 in the Related Articles section. When it is unclear whether a category of data belongs in Microsoft Teams at all, ask the Bowdoin College Service Desk before anyone uploads it.

A recurring checklist for Team owners

1. Each term: review the owner and member lists, and confirm the Team still has at least two active owners.
2. Each term: review guests and external sharing links, and remove the ones that are no longer needed.
3. Once a year: retire empty channels, check the apps and tabs people have added, and confirm the Team still matches how the department works. For apps, see Add and Request Apps in Microsoft Teams Channels in the Related Articles section.
4. Once a year: decide whether a finished Team should be archived rather than left to expire, using Archive Teams and Folders in Microsoft Teams in the Related Articles section, or removed deliberately, using Delete a Team, and Recover One in the Related Articles section.
5. Whenever one arrives: act on an expiration email the day you receive it.

For the wider set of limits and recommended practices that shape these decisions, see Best Practices and Limitations in Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive in the Related Articles section.

Additional Help

If you need further assistance, you have several options:

• Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
• Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
• In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
• Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.

Additional Resources

• Team owner, member, and guest capabilities in Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)
• Go-to guide for team owners (Microsoft)
• Team expiration and renewal in Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)
• Private channels in Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)
• Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)