In Teams, as far as I remember, adding a user as an owner would also add them to the members list. Now they only show up as an owner. Has this behavior changed recently?

Good day @Dagny Y,

Thank you for bringing up this question.

The behavior you’re seeing is still the expected one in Microsoft Teams. When a user is added directly as an Owner, they’ll appear only in the Owners list and not separately under Members. Owners automatically inherit all member permissions, so functionally they are members as well; they’re just shown in a different place for clarity and role management.

If someone is added as a Member first and then promoted, they’ll still end up listed only as an Owner afterward, not in both places. So while it can look a bit different from what people remember, it’s been designed this way for quite some time and isn’t related to a recent update or change.

I hope this helps clear up the confusion. If you found this response helpful, please consider clicking “Accept Answer” so the information is easier for other users with the same question to find. If you still have further concerns, please feel free to reply under this post.

Thank you again for your time.

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Teams currently treats "Owner" and "Member" as distinct roles that can both be assigned to a person, but the documentation and admin experience describe them as separate user roles rather than one implying the other.

In the current behavior:

• A user can be assigned as an Owner of a team in the Teams admin center or via More options > Manage team in the client.
• Owners and members have different permissions and capabilities, and role changes are done explicitly via a dropdown (for example, changing someone from Member to Owner, or vice versa) rather than automatically duplicating them in both lists.

The available documentation describes how to assign roles and manage members/owners, but does not indicate that adding someone as an owner should also list them separately as a member. Instead, it treats Owner and Member as mutually exclusive roles within the team membership list. This aligns with what is being observed now, where a person appears only as an owner when that role is assigned.

So, based on the current documented model, the behavior where owners appear only in the owners section (and not duplicated as members) is consistent with how Teams roles are defined and managed today.

References:

• Team owner, member, and guest capabilities in Microsoft Teams
• Assign team owners and members in Microsoft Teams admin center
• Manage team settings