How to Give Someone Admin Access on Discord

Is this your situation?

The short answer

Before you start

• Confirm you have Manage Roles access You need this to create or assign roles.Verify: Check that you can open Server Settings > Roles.
• Decide on a role name The name can be changed later.Verify: Check the Roles list for a name you can reuse or edit.
• Locate the member to promote You want to find them before assigning the role.Verify: Check the Manage Members tab for the member list.
• Check who else holds admin The server owner always has access to everything without assigned roles.Verify: Check the Roles list for existing roles with broad permissions.

How Discord handles this

• A new server starts with only one pre-made role, @everyone, which sets permissions for anyone with no other role.
• The creator of a server does not need to assign roles or permissions to themselves, since they always have access to everything.
• The Permissions tab of a newly created role shows the list of server permissions that can be assigned under that role.
• Once a role is assigned to a member, that member has the server-wide permissions assigned to that role.

Step by step

1. Open the server dropdown To create a role, press the downward arrow next to the server name.Confirm: Check below the server name for a dropdown menu.
2. Go to Roles Choose Server Settings, then Roles, then Create Role.Where: Server Settings → Roles → Create RoleConfirm: Check the Roles list for the new role.
3. Name the role Give the role a name; it can be changed later.Confirm: Check the name field for the name you entered.
4. Open the Permissions tab This tab shows the list of server permissions that can be assigned under the role.Confirm: Check the Permissions list for this role.
5. Set the role's permissions Assign permissions from the list under the role's Permissions tab.Confirm: Check the Administrator toggle for its current state.
6. Open Manage Members This tab shows the list of server members and allows selecting a user to assign a role to.Confirm: Check the Manage Members tab for the member list.
7. Assign the role Press the member's avatar in the server and select the plus sign under the role section.Confirm: Check the member's roles for the assigned role.
8. Confirm access took effect The member now has the server-wide permissions tied to the role.Confirm: Ask the member to check that admin-only settings are visible to them.
9. Note what the role controls Once assigned, that member has the server-wide permissions tied to the role.Confirm: Check the member's assigned permissions list for the Administrator role.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the Permissions tab The Permissions tab of a newly created role shows the permissions that can be assigned under it.Why it happens: The reader creates the role but skips reviewing its permissions list.
• Assuming a new role starts with access A server starts with only one pre-made role, @everyone.Why it happens: The reader expects a new role to carry admin-level access by default.
• Assigning the role to the wrong member The Manage Members tab lists server members and lets a user select one to assign a role to.Why it happens: The reader picks the wrong name from a long member list.

Roles at a glance

Keeping track of who has access