Team admin

Team admin

A team admin is a role that exists within each team in Asana. Team admins have access to team management features within the context of their specific teams. They can control who can edit a team and the members/guests allowed onto a team. A team can have one, multiple, or even no team admins.

Becoming a team admin

Users who create a new team are automatically assigned as the team’s admin. Team admins have control over the team and the role of team members.

Team admins can invite other users into the team and designate their role level within that team, either as a team member or another team admin. Only team admins can appoint others to be additional team admins or demote existing team admins back to team members. Note: One exception is that super admins can act as team admins on any team, but only from within the admin console. More on that below.

Teams don’t need to have a team admin: they can exist without one. In this case, team members can take any action within the team. However, if the team previously had a team admin who restricted the team members’ abilities, those restrictions will stay in place even if the team becomes adminless. When a team does not have a team admin, any non-guest team member can claim the team admin role from inside the team settings modal.

Guests cannot become team admin – They can be invited to teams as a team member only.

Team admin vs. Team member

The following is a breakdown of how the permissions of team admins and team members differ.

Team admins

Team admins can take the following actions:

• Edit the team name and team description at any time
• Edit the team privacy type or delete the team at any time
• Edit a team member or team admins role within the team
• Add or remove any user at any time
• Edit any of the permissions settings found on the advanced tab of the team settings dialog

Note: There are some things that nobody, not even team admins, can do. These include:

• Remove their organization’s billing owner from a team if it is the only team the billing owner is a member of
• Make a guest of the domain another team admin

Team members

Team members can take the following actions:

• Edit the team name and team description if the team admin allows it
• Edit the team privacy type or delete the team if the team admin allows it
• Invite guests and members to the team, though these invitations may require a review and approval by a team admin first
• Remove other team members from the team if the team admin allows it
• Claim the team admin role if the team doesn’t have a team admin already
  • This does not apply to guests

Team members cannot take the following actions:

• All the same restrictions that apply to team admins, plus:
• Remove or demote existing team admins
• Promote a different team member to team admin
• Edit any of the permission settings found on the advanced tab of the team settings dialog

Editing permissions controls

Editing permissions is available to all Asana Premium, Business, and Enterprise customers.

Team admins, but not team members, can manage who is able to edit aspects of the team through two controls:

• “Who can edit the team name and description?”
• “Who can edit the team privacy level and delete the team?”

There are two options for these settings: “All team members” or “Team admins only”

When a new team is created, these settings are set to “All team members” by default.

Membership permissions controls

Team privacy types

Teams in Asana can be set to one of three different privacy types:

• Membership by request
• Private
• Public to organization

Requests to join

The "Who can approve requests to join this team" control is available to all pricing tiers.

For membership by request teams, team admins can manage who can approve or deny requests to join the team using the “Who can approve requests to join this team” control.

• When the control is set to “All team members”, then all team members receive the notification and can approve/deny the request when an Asana user outside the team asks to join the team.
• When the control is set to “Only team admins”, only the team admins within the team receive the notification and can approve/deny the request when an Asana user outside the team asks to join the team.

Invitations and removals

Invitations and removals are available to all Asana Enterprise customers.

Team admins can also manage how users are added or removed from the team. On all team types (public, membership by request, and private), the following toggles can be found:

New guests invited to this team must be approved by a team admin

• When the toggle is turned off, team members can freely add guests to the team.
• When the toggle is turned on, then team members must request to add guests to the team. A team admin must approve the request.

Reminder: A domain member is a user whose email address matches one of your organization’s verified domains. A domain guest is a user whose email address does not match your organization’s verified domains.

Only team admins can remove members or guests from this team

• When the toggle is turned off, then any team member can remove any other team member (besides team admins) from the team.
• When the toggle is turned on, only team admins are allowed to remove other team members from the team.

Membership by request and private teams have one additional control that public teams do not have:

New members invited to this team must be approved by a team admin

• When the toggle is turned off, team members can freely add domain members to the team.
• When the toggle is turned on, then team members must request to add domain members to the team. A team admin must approve the request.

Team privacy type and membership controls

Team admins on public teams cannot enforce team membership approval since domain members can easily search for and join public teams.

As a result, when the team privacy type is changed from “Membership by Request” or “Private” to “Public,” the toggle for "New members invited to this team must be approved by a team admin" will be reset to the “off” position. Changing the team privacy type from “Public” back to “Membership by Request” or “Private” will not revert the toggle back to the “on” position.

Team admins and super admins

Within the admin console:

• Admins can act as team admins for any teams that they are already a member of.
• Super admins can act as a team admin in any team in Asana, regardless of their membership status to that team or its privacy type.

However, from within the Asana application, super admins and org admins must actually be a team admin in order to act as a team admin.

Unlike admins and super admins, team admins are not able to access the admin console.