How to Transfer Project Ownership

Introduction

With Overleaf you can easily transfer the ownership of a project to a collaborator, and this feature is available to everyone on free and premium accounts.

Only the project owner can make this change, and the ownership change is immediate. Owner-only capabilities, such as the ability to add collaborators, turn link sharing on or off, and the ability to delete projects are disabled immediately for the previous owner and enabled immediately for the new owner.

How Can I Transfer the Ownership of a Project?

1. As the owner, open the project you’d like to transfer, then click ‘Share’ on the top bar.

2. This will open the Share Project modal, which will list any collaborators on the project. (If none show you will have to invite them first.)

3. Click on the share permissions with the contributor you want to transfer project ownership to and choose ‘Owner.’

4. You will then be prompted to change or cancel the ownership. If you’re sure you wish to continue with the transfer ownership, select ‘Change.’

5. You will then get a final warning to ensure you wish to transfer project ownership and will relinquish ownership privileges.

Note: The ownership change is immediate. Owner-only capabilities, such as the ability to add collaborators and turn link sharing on/off, are disabled immediately for the previous owner, and enabled immediately for the new owner.

6. Once you’ve selected ‘Change Owner,’ you will get an email to your designated email address informing you of the change.

7. The new owner will also receive an email informing them of the change and will be able to click through and open the project on Overleaf.

Will Transferring Project Ownership Reset Sharing Preferences?

No, transferring project ownership doesn’t reset sharing preferences, so all existing collaborators will still have access, regardless of what plan the new owner is on.

Will Transferring Project Ownership Transfer Premium Features?

Project ownership transfer won’t transfer capabilities, e.g., if the original owner has premium features and the new owner doesn’t, they will not gain premium features for that project.

Regardless of this change, the features you have access to depend on the plan the project’s current owner is part of. You can find a plan to suit you here

To learn more about sharing projects, visit Sharing a Project.