When a manager tries to open a former employee’s OneDrive, they often see an access denied error or a blank page. This happens because OneDrive for Business uses site-level permissions that are not automatically transferred after an employee leaves the organization. This article explains the exact permission requirements and provides the step-by-step fix using the Microsoft 365 admin center. By following these steps, a manager will gain access to the former employee’s stored files without needing to contact Microsoft Support.
Key Takeaways: Granting Manager Access to a Former Employee’s OneDrive
- Microsoft 365 admin center > Active users > Select user > OneDrive tab: The only place to add a manager as a secondary owner of the former employee’s OneDrive site.
- Site collection administrator role: The manager must be added as a site collection administrator, not as a member, to bypass sharing restrictions and access all files.
- OneDrive site URL format: The URL is https://tenant-my.sharepoint.com/personal/user_tenant_com. You must know this URL to access the site after assigning permissions.
Why the Manager Cannot Access the Former Employee’s OneDrive
Each OneDrive for Business site is a SharePoint site collection with its own permission set. When a user is created, their OneDrive site is provisioned with the user as the sole site collection administrator. No other user, including the manager, has any permissions on that site by default.
When the employee leaves the organization, the IT department typically disables or deletes the user account. Disabling the account does not remove the OneDrive site, but it does block interactive logins. The manager cannot access the site because they have no assigned permissions, and the site owner (the former employee) can no longer grant them access.
The only way to grant access is through the Microsoft 365 admin center, which allows a global admin or SharePoint admin to add additional site collection administrators to any OneDrive site. Simply sharing individual folders or files from the former employee’s account is not possible because the account is disabled and cannot send or approve sharing invitations.
How to Grant a Manager Access to a Former Employee’s OneDrive
You must be a global admin or SharePoint admin in Microsoft 365 to perform these steps. The manager does not need any administrative roles.
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center
Go to https://admin.microsoft.com and sign in with an account that has global admin or SharePoint admin privileges. - Navigate to Active users
In the left navigation pane, select Users and then Active users. - Find the former employee’s user account
Use the search box to locate the former employee. Click the user’s display name to open their properties panel. - Open the OneDrive tab
In the user properties panel, select the OneDrive tab. This tab is only visible if the user had a OneDrive site provisioned. If the tab is missing, the OneDrive site may have been deleted or never created. - Copy the OneDrive site URL
Under the OneDrive site URL heading, you will see a link. Copy this full URL. It will look likehttps://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/john_doe_contoso_com. You will need this URL to access the site later. - Click Create link to files
Below the URL, click the Create link to files button. This generates a sharing link that the manager can use. However, this link alone will not work unless the manager has direct permissions on the site. - Grant site collection administrator access
Click Set site collection administrator in the OneDrive tab. In the panel that opens, type the manager’s email address and click Save. This adds the manager as a site collection administrator on the former employee’s OneDrive site. - Verify the manager can access the site
Ask the manager to open a new browser session and navigate to the OneDrive site URL you copied in step 5. They should now see the full file library of the former employee with read and write permissions.
If the manager still sees an error, clear the browser cache or use an InPrivate/Incognito window. The permission change can take up to 15 minutes to propagate across the Microsoft 365 service.
If the Admin Center Does Not Show the OneDrive Tab
Several conditions can cause the OneDrive tab to be missing from the user properties panel. Verify each of the following:
The user account was deleted instead of disabled
If the user account was permanently deleted from Microsoft Entra ID, the OneDrive site is orphaned and cannot be managed from the admin center. You must restore the deleted user within 30 days of deletion. Go to Microsoft 365 admin center > Users > Deleted users, select the user, and click Restore user. After restoration, the OneDrive tab will reappear.
OneDrive site was deleted manually
An admin may have deleted the OneDrive site from the SharePoint admin center. Deleted OneDrive sites are moved to the SharePoint recycle bin and can be restored within 93 days. Go to SharePoint admin center > Sites > Deleted sites, find the site by its URL, select it, and click Restore.
The user never opened OneDrive
If the user never signed in to OneDrive, no site was provisioned. In this case, there are no files to access. The manager should check other locations such as the user’s local computer backups or shared network drives.
What to Do If the Manager Needs Access After the OneDrive Site Is Deleted
If the OneDrive site was deleted more than 93 days ago, it cannot be restored. The files are permanently gone from Microsoft 365. The only recovery option is to check the organization’s backup solution, such as Microsoft 365 Backup or a third-party backup service. If no backup exists, the data is lost.
To prevent this situation, configure a OneDrive retention policy in the Microsoft 365 compliance center. Set the retention period for OneDrive content to match your organization’s data retention requirements. This keeps files accessible even after the user account is deleted.
Manager Access Methods: Admin Center vs PowerShell vs SharePoint Admin Center
| Item | Admin Center (OneDrive Tab) | SharePoint Online Management Shell | SharePoint Admin Center (Sites) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access method | Web UI from Microsoft 365 admin center | PowerShell cmdlet Set-SPOUser | Web UI from SharePoint admin center |
| Permission level granted | Site collection administrator | Site collection administrator | Site collection administrator |
| Requires admin role | Global admin or SharePoint admin | SharePoint admin | SharePoint admin |
| Steps | User properties > OneDrive tab > Set site collection administrator | Run Set-SPOUser -Site <URL> -LoginName <manager> -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true |
Select site > Permissions > Add site collection admin |
| Best for | Single user, quick fix | Bulk operations or automation | Admins who prefer SharePoint interface |
All three methods grant the same level of access. The admin center OneDrive tab is the simplest for a one-time scenario. Use PowerShell if you need to grant access for many former employees at once.
After the manager receives site collection administrator access, they can browse all files in the former employee’s OneDrive. They can download files, copy them to their own OneDrive, or delete them as needed. The manager cannot, however, change the site owner or delete the site itself unless they also have SharePoint admin privileges.
To transfer ownership of the OneDrive site to the manager permanently, use the Transfer files and ownership feature in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Go to Admin centers > SharePoint > More features > User profiles. Under Manage user profiles, search for the former employee, click the arrow next to their name, and select Transfer personal site. This moves all files and assigns the manager as the new site owner.