Access Request Email Goes to the Wrong Owner: Causes and Workarounds

When a user requests access to a SharePoint site, the approval email sometimes goes to the wrong person. The site owner receives the email instead of the member who should approve the request. This happens because SharePoint sends access request emails based on site permissions, not a custom approver list. This article explains why SharePoint routes the email to the wrong owner and shows you how to redirect the request to the correct person.

Why SharePoint Sends Access Requests to the Wrong Person

SharePoint has two layers for access requests. The first layer is the global setting in the SharePoint admin center. This setting applies to all sites in your tenant. The second layer is the per-site setting in site permissions. If you do not change either setting, SharePoint sends the access request email to the site owner. The site owner is the person who created the site or was added to the Owners group.

The problem appears most often with team sites connected to a Microsoft 365 group. In a group-connected site, the site owner and the group owner are different roles. The Microsoft 365 group owner manages membership for the group, but SharePoint does not send access requests to the group owner. SharePoint sends the request to the site owner instead. If the site owner is not the person who manages daily access, the email goes to the wrong person.

Another cause is the site collection administrator list. If you have multiple site collection administrators, SharePoint sends the access request email to all of them. This can flood inboxes and cause confusion about who should approve the request.

Steps to Redirect Access Request Emails to the Correct Owner

Method 1: Change the Global Access Request Setting

1. Open the SharePoint admin center
   Sign in to Microsoft 365 as a global admin or SharePoint admin. Go to the SharePoint admin center at admin.microsoft.com > SharePoint. Or use the direct URL: admin.microsoft.com/SharePoint.
2. Navigate to the Sharing settings
   In the left navigation, select Policies. Then select Sharing. This opens the page that controls external sharing and access requests for the entire tenant.
3. Locate the Access requests section
   Scroll down to the section titled Access requests. You see a checkbox labeled Let site owners choose who can send access requests. Clear this checkbox if you want to set a single email address for all sites. Then enter the email address of the person or group that should receive all access requests.
4. Save the changes
   Click Save at the bottom of the page. The change applies to all sites that do not have a per-site override.

Method 2: Change the Per-Site Access Request Setting

1. Go to the site where the email goes to the wrong owner
   Navigate to the SharePoint site that has the access request problem. You must be a site owner or site collection administrator to change this setting.
2. Open Site permissions
   Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right corner. Select Site permissions from the menu.
3. Access the Access requests settings
   On the Site permissions page, look for a link or button labeled Access requests settings. If you do not see it, click the link that says Advanced permissions settings. Then on the Permissions page, select Access Requests Settings from the ribbon.
4. Enter the correct email address
   In the Access Requests Settings dialog, check the box Allow access requests. Then in the field Send all access requests to the following email address, enter the email address of the person or group that should handle requests. This overrides the global setting for this specific site.
5. Save the setting
   Click OK to apply the change. All future access requests for this site go to the email address you entered.

Method 3: Use a Microsoft 365 Group for Approval

1. Create a Microsoft 365 group for access approvals
   In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Groups > Active groups. Create a new group named Site Access Approvers or similar. Add the people who should approve access requests as owners of this group.
2. Get the group email address
   After creating the group, copy the group email address. It looks like siteaccessapprovers@yourdomain.com.
3. Set the group email as the access request recipient
   Follow Method 2 steps to change the per-site access request setting. In the email address field, paste the group email address. Now all access request emails go to the group inbox. Only the group owners can approve the request.

If Access Request Emails Still Go to the Wrong Person

Access request setting is grayed out

If the Access requests settings option is grayed out or missing, the global admin has disabled access requests for the entire tenant. Contact your SharePoint admin to enable access requests at the tenant level. The admin must go to the SharePoint admin center > Policies > Sharing and check the box Allow access requests.

Email goes to all site collection administrators

By default, SharePoint sends access request emails to all site collection administrators. If you have multiple admins, everyone gets the email. To change this, go to the site and remove unnecessary site collection administrators from the Site Collection Administrators group. Then use the per-site access request setting to send emails to a single address or distribution group.

Group-connected site sends requests to site owner, not group owner

In a team site connected to a Microsoft 365 group, the site owner and group owner are different. SharePoint sends the access request to the site owner. To fix this, change the site owner to the same person who owns the Microsoft 365 group. Or use Method 2 to set a custom email address that points to the group owner or a shared mailbox.

Site Owner vs Group Owner: Access Request Email Destination

Item	Site Owner	Group Owner (Microsoft 365)
Default access request recipient	Yes	No
Can manage site permissions	Yes	Only if also site owner
Can approve group membership	No	Yes
Receives access request email	Always by default	Only if set as custom recipient

Use the per-site access request setting to send emails to the group owner if the group owner is the person who should manage access. This avoids the mismatch between site roles and group roles.