Changing a record's owner reassigns responsibility and rewrites the access that flows from ownership. Here is the standard manual flow on a single record, plus the choices you make along the way.
- Open the record and start the change
Go to the record detail page. Find the Owner field and click the Change link next to the current owner's name. You need edit access to the record and the Transfer Record permission to see this option.
- Pick the new owner
Select a user, or a queue on objects that support queue ownership. Confirm the new owner already has at least Read access to any parent record, such as the Account behind a Case or Opportunity, or the transfer will fail.
- Choose related items and notification
Optionally select which related records move with the owner, such as open opportunities owned by others or open and closed cases. Tick Send Notification Email if you want Salesforce to alert the new owner.
- Save and verify access
Save the change. Spot-check that the new owner and their managers in the role hierarchy can see the record, and that any owner-based sharing rule still grants the access you expect after the move.
The system permission that lets a user reassign records they can edit; grant it through a permission set to the admins and leads who manage ownership.
An optional checkbox that emails the new owner when ownership changes, so the handoff is visible rather than silent.
Per-object checkboxes that decide which open or closed related records move with the owner; closed activities never transfer.
- A workflow rule or Flow that sets the owner field does not transfer related items the way the Change button does; reassign related records yourself when you automate ownership.
- An Insufficient Privileges error on transfer usually means a missing Transfer Record permission, restricted object access, or a validation rule or trigger blocking the save.
- Detail records in a master-detail relationship have no owner; you cannot reassign them directly because they inherit access from the master record.