This version of GitHub Enterprise will be discontinued on This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2020-08-20. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Article version: Enterprise Server 2.18

Converting an Owners team to improved organization permissions

If your organization was created after September 2015, your organization has improved organization permissions by default. Organizations created before September 2015 may need to migrate older Owners and Admin teams to the improved permissions model. The "Owner" is now an administrative role given to individual members of your organization. Members of your legacy Owners team are automatically given owner privileges.

In this article

You have a few options to convert your legacy Owners team:

  • Give the team a new name that denotes the members have a special status in the organization.
  • Delete the team after ensuring all members have been added to teams that grant necessary access to the organization's repositories.

Give the Owners team a new name

Note: Because "admin" is a term for organization members with specific access to certain repositories in the organization, we recommend you avoid that term in any team name you decide on.

  1. In the top right corner of GitHub Enterprise, click your profile photo, then click Your profile.
    Profile photo
  2. On the left side of your profile page, under "Organizations", click the icon for your organization.
    organization icons
  3. Under your organization name, click Teams.
    Teams tab
  4. On the Teams tab, click Owners.
    Owners team selected
  5. Under the description of the new owner role, click Okay, got it.
    Description of the new owners role with Okay got it button highlighted
  6. In the team name field, choose a new name for the Owners team. For example:
    • If very few members of your organization were members of the Owners team, you might name the team "Core".
    • If all members of your organization were members of the Owners team so that they could @mention teams, you might name the team "Employees".
      The team name field, with the Owners team renamed to Core
  7. Under the team description, click Save and continue.
    The Save and continue button
  8. Optionally, make the team public.

Delete the legacy Owners team

Warning: If there are members of your Owners team who are not members of other teams, deleting the team will remove those members from the organization. Before deleting the team, ensure members are already direct members of the organization, or have collaborator access to necessary repositories.

  1. In the top right corner of GitHub Enterprise, click your profile photo, then click Your profile.
    Profile photo
  2. On the left side of your profile page, under "Organizations", click the icon for your organization.
    organization icons
  3. Under your organization name, click Teams.
    Teams tab
  4. On the Teams tab, click Owners.
    Owners team selected
  5. Under the description of the new owner role, click Okay, got it.
    Description of the new owners role with Okay got it button highlighted
  6. At the bottom of the page, review the warning and click Delete the Owners team.
    Link for deleting the Owners team

Ask a human

Can't find what you're looking for?

Contact us