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Forum Discussion

Lor2's avatar
Lor2
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago

How can I become the team admin when the admin has left and didn't leave the password?

Hello

The administrator of our Dropbox for Business left and we cannot contact him so the password has gone forever.

 

How can we make a team member become the team administrator?

 

Thank you and best Regards

Lor2

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi Lor2, thanks for posting on the Community!

     

    If you’re a team member, then it wouldn’t be possible to take control of the account. Only the team admin can grant another member admin permissions. Our support team wouldn’t be able to assist on this matter either for security and privacy reasons.

     

    If their email address is controlled by your business domain, then your IT team might be able to reset their email password to login, and then reset the Dropbox account password. Once you gain access to the account, the admin can give admin permissions to another user on the team.

    Hope this helps to clarify matters!

    • Lor2's avatar
      Lor2
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hello Jay

      We tried redirecting the emai of the old administrator to me (as an alias); then i tried to change the password of the old admin (forgot dropbox password)  but I never received the email about the password change.

       

      So I think that I should

      -- open a new dropbox business

      -- Transfer the data

      -- Close the old account.

       

      My question are:

      What could be the reason why I did't receive the reset password email?

      How can I dismiss the old dropbox business; who have I to write to

       

      Thank you and best regards

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        The password reset emails are sent from no-reply@dropbox.com, so make sure that it is whilelisted and added as a contact to ensure it doesn't go into spam.

         

        Regarding cancelling the old Dropbox Business team, assuming you have the transaction details, you can get in contact with our support team directly to look into this matter in more detail.

         

        You can do this by logging into your account, clicking this support link and providing as much info as possible. 

         

        Keep me posted!

  • teresawallacekw's avatar
    teresawallacekw
    New member | Level 2

    The previous admin no longer works for me and so I need to make myself and the other team members admins, but because the email of the previous admin has been deactivated it is impossible to access to change roles. Please advise.

    • Lusil's avatar
      Lusil
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hi teresawallacekw, thanks for reaching out to us. 

       

      I've moved your thread here, where another user has had a similar concern. 

       

      Have a look at what Jay mentions in their replies and let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks again!

  • sherry007's avatar
    sherry007
    New member | Level 2

    I need Help Our Admin cut out with us and not answering I need to change Admin and w are the one paying for this dropbox! Who can help us? 

     

    Thank you

    • Lusil's avatar
      Lusil
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hey sherry007, thanks for dropping by. 

       

      I moved your post to this thread, where Jay proposes some ways to tackle this issue. 

       

      Check out what they mention, and give us another nudge if you have any trouble or questions along the way. 

       

      Cheers!

  • aoissa18's avatar
    aoissa18
    New member | Level 2

    I am a member of a team and We have a Business account, unfortunately the Account Administrator, is no longer part of the Institution and in turn we cannot continue to make payments on her behalf. 

    She refuses to at least appoint another administrator and remove herself from the team as the account was created by her but paid for by the Institution.

     

    We received a notification for payment but unfortunately we are unable to do so.

    • Rich's avatar
      Rich
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

      aoissa18 wrote:

      She refuses to at least appoint another administrator and remove herself from the team as the account was created by her but paid for by the Institution.


      Your first step should be to make an offline backup of your data, just in case the current admin decides to pull the account out from under you all.

       

      Regardless of who was paying for it, the account is seen as belonging to her as she's the one that opened it. One of the Dropboxer's ( Hannah, Jay, etc.) may be able to offer a better solution, but I think your best bet will be to start a new team of your own, share a folder between the two accounts to transfer data (or reupload from the backup you're going to make), and then invite your members to the new team.

    • Megan's avatar
      Megan
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hi aoissa18, let's see what we can do about that! 

       

      Actually, Rich is right on what he mentioned above, about backing your content just in case. It's indeed a better idea to create a separate Business team. 

       

      If your admin doesn't want to pass admin rights to anyone else, I'm afraid there's nothing you can do. Same goes for billing admin. Have you made sure that the current one, is also paying for the account? 

       

      I hope this clarifies.

  • annette dunbar's avatar
    annette dunbar
    Explorer | Level 3

    How to remove your company administrator from your account once the person leaves the company

  • wafoptreasurer's avatar
    wafoptreasurer
    New member | Level 2

    I need to speak with someone about how to find out who the admin is on our account. I am taking over the account and having issues with a previous bookkeeper on gaining access to remove them. I need to find out how to either a) remove them from the account (which is my company's information) or b) open a new account and remove my email address from the current account. I find it extremely frustrating that I can't ask this question to an actual person without first paying for a subscription. Which I can't do because I can't figure out how to make myself the admin on the account for my company. This is a very frustrating way of doing business. 

    • Mark's avatar
      Mark
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

      If you are a free account there is no such thing as an Admin for it - its simple people who are users with accounts. That means you have no control over anybody elses accounts and they dont over yours. The only thing shared would be folders you share between people. 

       

      So, if you want to set up a new structure and share with new people simply create new shared folders and remove any old ones. You dont need to set up new accounts for that.