Change a member’s role

Owners and admins of a workspace or Enterprise Grid organisation can assign a role to any member and even change it later on. Keep reading to learn how.

Warning: Be careful when promoting owners and admins. Depending on your role, you may be unable to demote them later. Review who can manage roles below. 


Who can manage roles

Only people in administrative roles can manage roles for other members and guests. Below is an overview of the actions that each administrative role can take.

Free, Pro and Business+ subscriptions

Enterprise Grid subscription

  Workspace admins Workspace owners Workspace primary owner
Promote workspace owners    
Demote workspace owners      
Promote workspace admins  ✓  ✓
Demote workspace admins    ✓  
Manage guest roles

Org-level permissions

  Org admins Org owners Org primary owner
Promote org owners   ✓ 
Demote org owners     ✓ 
Promote org admins  ✓  ✓
Demote org admins    ✓ ✓ 


Workspace-level permissions

  Workspace admins Workspace owners Workspace primary owner
Promote workspace owners    
Demote workspace owners      
Promote workspace admins  ✓  ✓
Demote workspace admins    ✓  
Manage guest roles

Tip: The current primary owner can transfer ownership to another member, but only one person can have that role a time.


Manage owner and admin roles

Review your role's permissions, then use the steps below to promote or demote owners and admins.

Free, Pro and Business+ subscriptions

Enterprise Grid subscription

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member whose role you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. To promote someone, select workspace owner or workspace admin. To demote someone, click on Workspace admin or Full member.
  5. Click on Save.

Org level

Org owners and admins can manage org-level administrative roles:

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organisation settings.
  3. Click on  People in the left sidebar, then select Members
  4. Search for a member, then click on their name to view their profile.
  5. Click Manage in the top-right corner. To promote someone, choose either Make org owner or Make an org admin. To demote someone, choose Convert to org member.

Additionally, org owners and admins can manage workspace-level administrative roles from the org dashboard:

    1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
    2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organisation settings.
    3. Under  Organisation, click on Workspaces.
    4. Click on a workspace name. 
    5. Select Members.
    6. Next to a member's name, click on the  three dots icon. To promote someone, choose Make a workspace admin or Make a workspace owner. To demote someone, choose Convert to org member.

Tip: To assign members to system roles, click the Roles tab then select Assign role. To edit or revoke a system role, click the  three dots icon next to the role name.



Workspace level

Workspace owners and admins can manage administrative roles for their workspace:

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member whose role you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. To promote someone, select workspace owner or workspace admin. To demote someone, click on Workspace admin or Full member.
  5. Click on Save.


Manage guest roles

On the Pro, Business+ and Enterprise Grid subscriptions, you can invite guests to your workspace(s). Use the steps below to manage guest roles.


Change a full member to a guest

Pro and Business+ subscriptions

Enterprise Grid subscription

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member whose role you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. Select Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest and click on Next.
  5. Enter the channel(s) that the guest will have access to and set a time limit, if you like.
  6. Click on Make guest.

Org level 

At the org level, org owners and admins can't change a full member to a guest. Workspace owners and admins can make this change if the member is only in one workspace.


Workspace level

Workspace owners and admins can change a full member to a guest if the member is only in one workspace:

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member whose role you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. Select Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest and click on Next.
  5. Enter the channel(s) that the guest will have access to and set a time limit, if you like.
  6. Click on Make guest.

Note: To convert workspace owners and admins to guests, you’ll need to change them to a full member first.


Change a guest’s role

Pro and Business+ subscriptions

Enterprise Grid subscription

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member that you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. Select Full member, Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest and click on Save or Next.
  5. If you selected Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest, enter the channel(s) that the guest will have access to and set a time limit, if you like, then click on Make guest.

Org level 

Org owners and admins can change a guest to a full member of the Enterprise Grid org if the guest is in multiple workspaces:

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organisation settings.
  3. Click on  People in the left sidebar, then select Members
  4. Search for a member, then click on their name to view their profile.
  5. Click Manage in the top-right corner and select Make org member.

Note: A user cannot be a guest in some workspaces but a full member in others.


Workspace level

Workspace owners and admins can change a guest to a full member if the guest is in only one workspace:

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage members.
  3. Click on the  three dots icon to the right of the member that you want to change and select Change account type.
  4. Select Full member, Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest and click on Save or Next.
  5. If you selected Multi-channel guest or Single-channel guest, enter the channel(s) that the guest will have access to and set a time limit, if you like, then click on Make guest.

Note: To promote guests to workspace owners or admins, you'll need to make them a full member first, then promote them.

Who can use this feature?