SharePoint site collection administrator [Complete tutorial]

In this SharePoint tutorial, we are going to understand everything about a SharePoint site collection administrator. Especially, the roles and responsibilities of a SharePoint site collection administrator. And how we can make some a site collection admin in a SharePoint Online site.

We will cover the below topics related to a site collection administrator in SharePoint Online.

• What is a SharePoint Online site collection administrator?
• Roles and responsibilities of a SharePoint site collection administrator
• SharePoint Site owner vs SharePoint Site collection administrators
• SharePoint site Full Control vs SharePoint Site collection administrators
• How to make a user a SharePoint site collection administrator?
• Add site collection administrator in SharePoint online
• To change site collection administrator in SharePoint online
• Check if user is site collection administrator in SharePoint online
• How to view all SharePoint Online site collection administrators
• What is the site collection administrator SharePoint online url
• Access Denied for SharePoint site Administrators
• SharePoint online site collection administration missing

What is a SharePoint site collection administrator?

• The SharePoint site collection administrator has unlimited controls over the features, permissions, both contents and technical management, and many more.
• We can call the SharePoint site collection administrator as a super owner of a SharePoint site collection.
• We can add multiple users as SharePoint site collection administrators but, the primary and secondary administrator receives email notifications for the site collection.
• The primary and secondary site collection admins are automatically added to the site collection administrator group.
• All members in the SharePoint site collection administrative group having full permission to the site collection.

Read PowerShell SharePoint site collection example

Roles and responsibilities of a SharePoint site collection administrator

The SharePoint site collection administrator plays important role in managing the SharePoint site collection. The roles of the SharePoint site collection administrator are:

• Have access and control over everything in the site collection that can be managed in the web interface.
• Can configure search setting and site directory setting and allocate storage space of the site collection.
• The sharePoint site collection administrator has full control permission level. This means site collection admins can add or delete sites, and change the settings of any sites within the site collection.
• Additionally, the site collection admin can view, add, delete or change all content within that site.
• SharePoint site collection administrator can access all the lists, libraries, subsites, etc.
• To manage the functionality of features such as the recycle bin (administrator can view the deleted items which are deleted by the end-user. When you delete an item from the Sharepoint site recycle bin (Second stage) then it will be permanently deleted. Then in the SharePoint site, Quick launch -> recycle bin), Documents ID setting (Site collection administrator can enable Document ID setting in site collection features. Document Id helps in managing documents or records and document Id assigns automatically to the uploaded document), and many more site collection features.
• Can view the audits log reports, work with site collection policies, manage the site collection caching and activate and deactivate the site collection features.
• Can also add, change or remove the site collection administrator.
• Even as an organization, we need to contact the site collection administrator for anything related to that particular site collection. Suppose the SharePoint site storage quota is getting over, then an email will be sent to the site collection administrator.

Read How to change SharePoint site collection URL or Address

SharePoint Site owner vs SharePoint Site collection administrators

The below table represents the difference between the SharePoint site owner and the SharePoint site collection administrators.

SharePoint site owner	SharePoint site collection Administrators
SharePoint site owner role has the full control permission level.	SharePoint site collection Administrators role has the full control permission level.
Scope of the SharePoint site owner has control to access only a specific SharePoint site.	Scope of the SharePoint site collection administrator has full control of all the sites and subsites of the site collection.
The primary and secondary administrator receives email notifications for the site collection.	The primary and secondary administrator receives email notifications such as site collection storage limit warning Emails.
The SharePoint site owner cannot remove a site collection administrator.	The SharePoint site collection administrator can remove a SharePoint site owner.
The SharePoint site owner can grant permissions including Full Control to other users	The SharePoint site collection Administrators can grant permissions including Full Control to other users
The SharePoint site owner cannot see the site collection administrators link below the User and Permission in the Site Collection Settings.	The SharePoint site collection administrators can see the site collection administrators link below the User and Permission in the Site Collection Settings.

SharePoint site Full Control vs SharePoint Site collection administrators

The below table represents the difference between the SharePoint site full control and the SharePoint site collection administrators.

SharePoint site Full Control	SharePoint Site collection administrators
The SharePoint site owner has full control over the content in a site.	The SharePoint site collection admin controls the features, permissions, both content and technical management, and has rights across all content and the galleries.
The SharePoint site owner gives the user the permissions full control to that subsite.	The SharePoint site collection Admin role is a good security role. When a site owner has removed all permissions from a subsite, leaving the subsite inaccessible to all users.
The SharePoint site owner group members have all the available permissions on that specific subsite.	The SharePoint site owner does not have permission to remove the SharePoint site collection Administrator.
The SharePoint site owner is responsible for one part of a site collection only, and cannot change anything on the Site Collection level.	The SharePoint site collection Administrator can do the same as Site OwnersThey cannot be denied access to any subsite and they’re able to change the settings that apply to the entire Site Collection.
The SharePoint site owner has full control over one or more subsites and can grant permissions to users, create lists and subsites, and activate site features.	The SharePoint site collection administrator has full control over one or more subsites and can grant permissions to users, create lists and subsites, and activate site features including deleting things.

Read SharePoint Site Collection – Change Title, Description, Logo, and Site Administrator

How to make a user a SharePoint site collection administrator?

The SharePoint site collection is a collection of SharePoint sites. Each site collection contains a site and subsites in it. There are two ways to make a user a SharePoint site collection Administrators. They are,

• From Office 365 admin center
• From SharePoint site

From Office 365 admin center

 Follow the below steps to make a user a site collection admin to assign a SharePoint Administrator User Role in Office 365.

• Login to Microsoft Office365 using your SharePoint credentials -> Select Office365 App Launcher and then click on the Admin.

• Click on the show all option Under Users, click on Active Users.

• Select checkbox to the user you want to make a Site Collection Admin
• For the selected user’s pop-up screen, under Roles, click on the Manage Roles.

• In the next window, click on Customized administrator, then SharePoint Administrator.
• Click Save

Read Create site page in SharePoint online

From SharePoint Online site

• In the SharePoint site, click the Settings Gear Icon.
• Select the Site Information and click on the view all site settings.

The other way, you can access is,

Open the SharePoint site, click on the Gear icon. Then click on Site permissions and then click on Advanced permissions settings like below:

• Under Users and Permissions, click on Site collection administrators.

• Add users in the window to whom you want to make a Site Collection Admin, click OK.

These are the two ways, we can add a user to the SharePoint site collection administrator.

Read How to add parent site navigation to subsite in SharePoint?

Add site collection administrator in SharePoint online

We can add the site collection administrator in SharePoint Online using the admin center. To add the site collection administrator in SharePoint Online follow the below steps,

• Login to Microsoft Office365 using your SharePoint credentials -> Select Office365 App Launcher and then click on the Admin.
• Click on the show all option Under Users, click on Active Users.
• Select checkbox to the user you want to add as a SharePoint Site Collection Admin
• Select Manage Admins under Permissions in the command bar.

• In the next window, add the user’s name and then assign the Admin role or Primary Admin role.
• Click Save.

This is how we can add a SharePoint site collection administrator in SharePoint online.

Read Grant user access to SharePoint site office 365

To change site collection administrator in SharePoint online

Let us see how to change site collection administrator SharePoint online. To change the SharePoint site collection administrator, follow the below steps:

• Login to Microsoft Office365 using your SharePoint credentials -> Select Office365 App Launcher and then click on the Admin.
• Click on the show all option Under Users, click on Active Users.
• Select checkbox to the user you want to add as a SharePoint Site Collection Admin
• Select Manage Admins under Permissions in the command bar.
• In the next window, remove the user who is assigned for the Admin role or Primary Admin role. Click Save.

• Enter the new user to whom you want to assign the admin role or primary admin role.
• Click Save.

This is how we can change the SharePoint site collection administrator in SharePoint online.

Read How to allow anonymous read access to a SharePoint site?

Check if user is site collection administrator in SharePoint online

Now, let us see, how to check if a user is a site collection administrator in sharepoint online. Follow the below steps:

• Open the SharePoint Online site, click the Settings Gear Icon -> Site permissions -> Advanced permissions settings opens the permissions page.
• Click the Check Permissions icon from the ribbon in the top ribbon on the permissions tab.
• Enter the users name, to check whether the particular user is assigned as the site collection administrators or not. Click on the Check Now option.

• This page gives you the list of site collection administrators on the particular site collection.

This is how to check if a user is a site collection administrator in SharePoint online.

Read How to Change SharePoint Site Logo

View site collection administrators in SharePoint online

We can easily view all the site collection administrators on our SharePoint online site. Follow the below steps:

• Open the SharePoint online site, click on the Gear or the settings icon.
• Then click on Site permissions -> Advanced permissions settings.
• Then from the Ribbon, click on Site Collection Administrators, it will open the Site collection administrator dialog box, Here we can view all the site collection administrators of the SharePoint Online site.

site collection administrator SharePoint online URL

Below is the URL, if you want to directly access the SharePoint site collection administrator page.

https://<<Domain name>>.sharepoint.com/sites/EnjoySharePoint/_layouts/15/user.aspx

Example:

https://tsinfotechnologies.sharepoint.com/sites/EnjoySharePoint/_layouts/15/user.aspx

Read How to delete SharePoint site?

Access Denied for SharePoint site Administrators

To check the user permission while accessing a SharePoint site or a group follow the below steps:

• In the SharePoint site, click the Settings Gear Icon -> Site Permissions -> Advanced permissions settings opens the permissions page.

• Click the Check Permissions icon from the ribbon in the top ribbon on the permissions tab.

• Enter the user’s name in the User/Group field, and then select Check Now.
• To review the permissions the user has on the SharePoint site.

• If the user doesn’t have appropriate permissions, grant the user permissions to the user on the SharePoint site
• If the user continues to receive an error message,remove the user from the SharePoint site and then grant the user permissions back to the user on the SharePoint site.

This is how we can check the user permission in the SharePoint site or a group when we get an access denied message.

Read Save site as template in SharePoint

SharePoint online site collection administration missing

• You need to be the SharePoint site collection administrators to access the site page. The SharePoint site owner permission is not enough.
• You need to add your name or the SharePoint site owner group in the site admins permissions from the SharePoint Admin Center.
• If you are trying to access the site page without the SharePoint site collection administration permission, then you will get an access denied message.
• You have to add the SharePoint site collection administrator in the SharePoint Online using admin center.
• To overcome it, you can follow the below steps that I am going to discuss (Add site collection administrator in SharePoint online above)

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• SharePoint site types
• How to find which template is used for a site in SharePoint Online Office 365
• How to Get SharePoint site template PowerShell

In this SharePoint tutorial, we learned about SharePoint collection administrators like:

• SharePoint Online site collection administrator
• Roles and responsibilities of a SharePoint site collection administrator
• SharePoint Site owner vs SharePoint Site collection administrators
• SharePoint site Full Control vs SharePoint Site collection administrators
• How to make a user a SharePoint site collection administrator?
• Add site collection administrator in SharePoint online
• To change site collection administrator in SharePoint online
• Check the site collection administrator SharePoint online
• View all SharePoint site collection admins
• What is the site collection administrator SharePoint online url
• Access Denied for SharePoint site Administrators
• SharePoint online site collection administration missing