# Promoting a User to Admin or Moderator Status
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** how-to, users
**Created:** [November 7, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754 "2023-11-07T21:40:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/1 "2023-11-07T21:40:21Z")
> :discourse: This is a #how-to guide intended to help existing site admins understand how to promote a user to admin or moderator status through Discourse.
>
> đ Required user level: Administrator
Admin privileges in Discourse are powerful and allow the user to manage almost all aspects of the site. For full details on what staff users can do on a site, see [Understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-user-statuses-roles-and-permissions/35171).
Here is a step-by-step process on how to promote a user to admin or moderator status directly through the Discourse User Interface:
## Step 1: Locate the User
On your Admin Sidebar (`.../admin`), click on the âUsersâ tab. This will take you to a list of all users registered on your Discourse forum.
You can use the search bar under the **Active Users** label at the top of the page to find the user you wish to promote.
Clicking on a username in the search results will take you to their **userâs admin page**.
You can also directly search for the user using the headerâs search đ button on your site. Click on the search result to access their profile. From there, click on the âAdminâ button to access the userâs admin page.
## Step 2: Promote the User
On the userâs admin page, scroll down until you see the âPermissionsâ section.
Here youâll see two rows labeled âAdminâ and âModeratorâ, each showing the userâs current status. Click the âGrant Adminâ or âGrant Moderationâ button corresponding to the privilege level you wish to promote the user to.
## Step 3: Confirm Changes
When promoting a user to an admin in Discourse, an additional confirmation method is required from the user who is performing the promotion. This is an additional security measure to ensure that admin rights are not granted accidentally or without proper authorization.
When you promote a user to an admin, Discourse will send an email to your registered email address. Youâll need to confirm the action by clicking on the link provided in the email. Once youâve done this, the user will be granted admin rights.
If Two-Factor-Authentication is enabled on your account, instead of verifying admin privileges via email, you will need to confirm your 2FA authentication code.
This additional verification step does not apply when promoting a user to a moderator status. Moderator privileges can be granted directly from the userâs admin page without the need for secondary confirmation.
To see all of the current staff users on your site, you can visit your siteâs `/admin/users/list/staff` page.
## Additional Details
**Revoking Privileges:** If you need to revoke admin or moderator privileges from a user, you can do so by clicking the âRevoke Adminâ or âRevoke Moderationâ button on the userâs admin page. Email confirmation is not required when revoking privileges.
**Staff Limits:** If you are on a Discourse hosted plan, the total number of staff users (admins and moderators) allowed on your site will vary. See Below for details:
| [Plan](https://www.discourse.org/pricing) | Free | Starter | Pro | Business | Enterprise | Self-Hosted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Staff Limit | 2 | 2 | 5 | 15 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
> Last edited by @SaraDev 2025-03-20T22:04:28Z
>
> Last checked by @sam 2026-04-01T23:31:28Z
>
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:
---
### Author:  [@haydenjames](https://meta.discourse.org/u/haydenjames)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/3 "2024-12-10T11:17:58Z")
Does granting moderator status send the member a notification?
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/4 "2024-12-10T11:23:53Z")
I think so. I revoked the moderator status from my admin account for testing, and when I granted it again, I received a personal message:
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### Author:  [@one1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/one1)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/5 "2025-03-15T06:09:36Z")
In the table above, why do some staff have one shield icon and some have two?
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2025, 6:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/6 "2025-03-15T06:14:03Z")
Admins have two shields, moderators have one.
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### Author:  [@one1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/one1)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2025, 6:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/7 "2025-03-15T06:14:44Z")
And if someone is an admin and a moderator? Do they have three?
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/8 "2025-03-15T06:20:29Z")
Good question đ No, they have two.
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### Author:  [@one1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/one1)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/9 "2025-03-20T18:23:14Z")
This may be a little esoteric, but it came up in a discussion.
Would a more accurate title for this article be
> Making a user an admin or moderator
?
Because âgranting privilegesâ makes it sound like you can give a user these privileges without simultaneously making them a moderator or admin.
It came up because a group of users were interested in having some moderation privileges even though they had a different official role in the organization.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/10 "2025-03-20T20:17:59Z")
Great feedback:
I went with âPromoting a User to Admin or Moderator Statusâ I think it is reasonably coherent with our documentation. @SaraDev any thoughts? Any further improvements to the title you would recommend?
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### Author:  [@one1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/one1)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/11 "2025-03-20T20:29:33Z")
That looks perfect to me.
BTW, I canât tell you how much I appreciate all the documentation here. It is a great blessing.
It would appear that the technical term used in the interface is âgrantingâ. Not sure if it makes sense to have all the language aligned. A non-specialist might be searching for âpromotingâ so maybe it makes sense to use that in the title. If they do know âgrantingâ and search for that it will also turn up.
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### Author:  [@SaraDev](https://meta.discourse.org/u/SaraDev)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/promoting-a-user-to-admin-or-moderator-status/284754/12 "2025-03-20T22:14:32Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> I went with âPromoting a User to Admin or Moderator Statusâ I think it is reasonably coherent with our documentation.
I would agree that âPromoting a User to Admin or Moderator Statusâ is a more appropriate name for this guide, and makes sense in the context of the actions that are being performed here.
Beyond this change, I also modified some of the verbiage in the guide to âpromoting a userâ versus âgranting privilegesâ, which should help address:
> [@one1](#):
>
> A non-specialist might be searching for âpromotingâ so maybe it makes sense to use that in the title. If they do know âgrantingâ and search for that it will also turn up.
@one1 Itâs great to hear that youâre finding the documentation on Meta helpful!
If you have any other feedback about specific documentation, feel free to share it on the documentation topics themselves as youâve done here, or in our #Contribute > Site feedback category. đ