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Content Manager enables Admins to manage the collaborators of content owned by the organization’s managed users. To manage collaborators of a user’s items:
  1. Go to Admin Console > Content.
  2. Select the Content Manager tab.
  3. Select Users.
  4. Select the Expand control () next to a user’s name.
  5. Navigate the folder structure of the items that the user owns or has access to under the user’s name, or navigate the folders and view the items in the folders in the item list on the right.
  6. Hover over the item and select Manage Collaborators () or select the item on the list and select Manage Collaborators from the top action bar.
In the Collaborators dialog box, Admins can:
  • See a list of users and groups who have access to the item, including users who have been deactivated.
  • View whether a collaborator is collaborated on the item (direct collaboration) or on a parent item (inherited collaboration) by reviewing the value in the Added To column. This value is also a link, which will navigate you directly to the item.
  • Change or remove the collaborator permission in the Permission column. See Understanding Collaborator Permission Levels for information describing each available permission.
  • See collaborators’ details after clicking on a collaborator.
  • Search for collaborators.
  • Change ownership of the item.
  • Admins can add collaborators to an item in Content Manager, but not in this dialog box. To do so, hover on the item and select the arrow icon (). See Managing Shared Links of a User’s Files and Folders for details.
  • Manage Collaborators appears only for items that have been shared.

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Troubleshooting ownership transfers

When you change ownership of an item, the operation may fail with a generic message such as An error has occurred. Please try again. This can happen when the intended new owner has Restrict External Collaboration enabled and the target folder or its subfolders contain external collaborators. Because the new owner is not permitted to collaborate externally, Box cannot transfer ownership of content that has external collaborators to that user. To resolve this, do one of the following before retrying the transfer:
  • Remove the external collaborators from the target folder and its subfolders, or
  • Disable Restrict External Collaboration for the intended new owner. This setting is configured in the Admin Console under Users & Groups > select the user > Role and Access Permissions. See Restricting External Collaboration in Your Organization for details.
Last modified on July 8, 2026