Assign an Admin Role to a Google Workspace User
Grant a user admin privileges.
Go to Google Admin https://admin.google.com and click the Billing icon.
Click Add or upgrade a subscription above the list of your current Subscriptions.
On the left, under CATEGORIES, select Cloud Identity.
Then on the right, under Cloud Identity Free, click GET STARTED.
This page gives a general explanation of what Cloud Identity Free is. Click GET STARTED to continue.
Click CHECKOUT.
Click PLACE ORDER.
Done, you can now add free user licenses.
Cloud Identity Free licenses are going to be auto-assigned by default.
Now is the time to ensure that the new user you are about to create will not be auto-assigned a Google Workspace paid license. Otherwise, they will become a paid user.
The best thing to do is to create a new Organizational Unit specifically for your free admin user and turn off automatic Google Workspace licensing for the new OU.
This way, you can avoid turning off Automatic licensing for Google Workspace for other OUs, which may become an issue when you create new users in the future. If you turn off Automatic licensing for Google Workspace, new users you create will not be able to access any of the Google services until you manually assign them a Google Workspace license.
Click the Main menu icon – the three horizontal lines to the left of the Google Admin logo on the top left of the page.
Hover over Directory and select Organizational units.
Click the + icon on the top left to create a new organizational unit.
We’ve named it Free Users and added a Description – Cloud Identity Free Licensing Only. This is optional. You can call it anything you want and give it any description. The Parent organizational unit is also up to you. Click CREATE.
Once again, click the Main menu icon to the left of the Google Admin logo on the top left of the page.
In the menu on the left, click Billing and then select License settings.
On the left, under Organizational Units, select the new OU you created.
After that, click Google Workspace to update the Automatic licensing setting.
Select OFF and click OVERRIDE.
Now to create the free admin user, click the Main menu icon on the top left. Then click Directory and select Users.
Above the users list, click Add new user.
Fill out the fields as you wish. Then click Manage user’s password, organizational unit, and profile photo to add the new user directly to the new OU you made.
Click Organizational unit and select the new one, then click ADD NEW USER.
Under Password, you have two options – leave it on Automatically generate a password if you don’t want to set the password yourself.
Alternatively, select Create password and type the password yourself.
To force a password change when the user logs in, leave the Ask user to change their password when they sign in box checked.
Click ADD NEW USER.
Done!
If necessary, you can click the eye icon to the right of the hidden password to see it. You can also click COPY PASSWORD to copy it automatically.
Next, you may want to send sign-in instructions to the user’s current email address so they can learn how to sign in to their account. Click PREVIEW AND SEND.
Without checking the box on its left, click the new user’s name on the Users page.
Scroll down through the sections on the right until you see the Admin roles and privileges section, then select it.
Click the top button to the right of Super Admin. It will switch to the right and turn blue.
Optionally, you can assign another admin role instead of the Super Admin one, but only Super Admin grants full permissions. Learn more about admin roles here.
Click SAVE below the list of admin roles.
This new user can now go to Google Admin https://admin.google.com and do anything there.
Go to the Apps section on the user’s page. You’ll see that it can access Drive (as well as Docs, Sheets, and Slides) Keep, and Meet, as well as the additional Google services that are not part of Google Workspace, such as Google Maps and YouTube. However, Gmail, Calendar, Sites, Chat, Meet, and Currents will never be accessible unless you assign a Google Workspace license to the user.
Ideally, you should receive emails sent to the admin email address at another account. Follow these steps to set up forwarding.
Grant a user admin privileges.
Remove a user’s admin privileges.
Create custom admin roles that fit your needs.
Create an admin user free of charge, solely for management purposes.
Grant a user access to the Billing settings.
Allow a user to contact Google Workspace support on their own.
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