how to change meeting organizer

Hi Susie,

Thank you for reaching out. Below are detailed instructions on how to handle the situation when the organizer of a Microsoft Teams meeting is no longer with the company:

Currently, Microsoft Teams does not support directly changing the meeting organizer after a meeting has been scheduled. The “Organizer” field is fixed to the original creator of the meeting.

 Available Workarounds

A. Delegate Access or Mailbox Takeover

• Before the organizer leaves: The organizer or IT can assign a delegate via Outlook to manage meetings.
• After the organizer has left:
  • IT administrators can grant “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to a new responsible person.
  • Alternatively, convert the original mailbox into a Shared Mailbox and assign ownership to the new organizer.
  • The delegate can then open the calendar, edit meeting details, add/remove attendees, or cancel the meeting.

Note: The organizer name will still appear as the original person. It’s recommended to add a note in the meeting invite such as: “This meeting is now managed by [New Organizer Name].”

B. Cancel and Recreate the Meeting (Recommended for Clear Ownership Transfer)

• Cancel the old meeting or series.
• Create a new meeting under the new organizer’s name, keeping the same time and title (you may add “(New)”).
• Send the new invite to all participants.
• Add a note: “This meeting replaces the previous series organized by [Former Organizer Name].”
• If cancellation cannot be sent officially, notify participants to remove the old meeting manually and accept the new invite.

1. Special Cases

Channel Meetings

• Meetings scheduled in Teams channels are tied to the original user behind the scenes.
• Only the original organizer or an admin with mailbox access can modify or cancel the meeting.
• Create a new channel meeting post and add a reply to the old post to redirect participants.

Meeting Chat & Files

• Chat and files are linked to the original meeting ID and do not transfer to the new meeting.
• Copy important information from the old chat and paste it into the new meeting or a shared document.
• Re-share relevant files in the new meeting invite or channel.

1. Additional Notes

• Join links and conference IDs will change with the new meeting.
• Ensure meeting rooms and external participants receive the updated link.
• If recordings or transcripts exist, IT should transfer them from the original organizer’s OneDrive or SharePoint.
• For important recurring meetings, consider using a dedicated service account to avoid disruptions due to staff changes.

1. Forwarding Invitations

If the goal is only to add new attendees, any participant can forward the meeting invite. However, this does not grant organizer rights or allow changes to the meeting details.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.   

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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