Who owns a team and what only the Owner can do

Every team has exactly one Owner: the person who started it, or whoever it was later handed to. The Owner pays for the team and can do everything on it. Two things belong to the Owner alone: handing the team to someone else and closing it.

Those two rights cannot be given to anyone else, not even a little, and no group or permission setting can hold them. If the Owner wants someone else to have them, the only way is to make that person the Owner.

What the Owner can do that an Admin cannot

An Admin can do most of what the Owner can. The differences are:

• Pay for the team and manage billing. Admins start without this. See how team billing works.
• Hand the team over. See how to hand your team to someone else.
• Close the team. See how to close a team.

An Admin can do one thing the Owner never needs to: ask to take over a team whose Owner has gone quiet. See what to do when a team Owner has gone quiet.

For the full list of what each role can do, see Team members: Owner, Admin, Managed and Sponsored and Team groups and permissions. Billing can be given to other people through a group. The two Owner-only rights cannot.

Does the Owner need a seat?

No. When someone starts a team they choose whether to take a seat. Someone who already has calendars connected takes one automatically. An Owner who does not take a seat only pays and manages: they are not on the member list, and the team does not pay for them. The Members tab describes the role as one that "runs the team and pays the bill" and "may not take a seat".

Can the Owner leave or be removed?

No to both.

• The Owner cannot leave the team. Trying to leave says: "You run [team name]'s team. Hand it to someone else first, then you can leave."
• Nobody can remove or release the Owner, not even an Admin. The refusal says the Owner can hand the team to someone else first.
• The Owner cannot delete their own account while they own a team. They have to hand the team over or close it on People & Team first. If the team is still closing, wait for the email saying it is done.

What happens to the old Owner after a hand-over?

• If they had a seat, they stay on the team as an Admin.
• If they only paid and never took a seat, they are off the team once they no longer own it.

Either way, they get an email. The new Owner takes over billing, though the card already on file is not removed until the new Owner adds their own. The details are in how to hand your team to someone else.

Who can become the Owner?

Someone who is already on the team and has verified their email address. If they have not verified it, the Make Owner... item says so and the hand-over does not go ahead. The person has to accept: the Owner sends an offer, and the team changes hands only when they accept it on People & Team. They can decline, and an offer nobody answers ends after 7 days.

What to know

• Every team always has an Owner. The team changes hands only by a hand-over the new Owner accepted, or by a takeover nobody turned down.
• Handing the team over, accepting it, taking it over and closing it all ask you to have signed in within the last 15 minutes. If it has been longer, you are asked to sign in again first.
• While a team is being closed, nothing about it can change hands.
• Anyone with their own account can start a team from People & Team. Team prices are on the pricing page.