---
title: Changing Document Ownership
description: Each document in Essal Office has an owner — the user who controls access to that document. By default, ownership is assigned to the user who uploaded...
---

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# Changing Document Ownership

Each document in Essal Office has an **owner** — the user who controls access to that document. By default, ownership is assigned to the user who uploaded the document. Ownership can be changed at any time by an admin or by the current owner.

---

## Why Ownership Matters

Ownership determines who can view, edit, and delete a document at the object level. A document's owner always has full access to it. Other users' access is determined by:

1. Their global permissions (admins can access everything)
2. The document's owner settings and any permissions granted to specific users or groups

When an employee leaves or changes roles, transferring their documents to another owner ensures those documents remain accessible.

---

## Changing the Owner on a Single Document

1. Open the document
2. In the metadata panel, locate the **Owner** field
3. Click it and select the new owner from the list of users
4. Save

> **Note:** Only admins and the current owner can change the owner of a document.

---

## Bulk Changing Ownership

To transfer ownership of many documents at once:

1. Go to the document list
2. Filter to the documents you want to reassign (e.g. filter by the current owner)
3. Select all documents using the checkbox
4. Open the bulk actions toolbar
5. Choose **Set owner**
6. Select the new owner
7. Apply

---

## Documents Without an Owner

A document with no owner assigned is accessible only to admin users. Documents may end up without an owner if they were imported via email or an automated workflow using a system account. Review unowned documents periodically and assign them to appropriate owners.

---

## Ownership When a User Is Deleted

If a user account is deleted from Essal Office, the documents they owned become unowned. Before deactivating or deleting a user, use bulk ownership transfer to reassign their documents to another user.

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