Understand what Roles and Permissions controls

1. Community management needs to be distributed across more people
2. Certain members need limited administrative responsibility
3. You want module-specific control without granting full host access
4. You want to empower community champions, moderators, or coordinators

Each member can be associated with only one custom role. This means a superhost should design custom roles carefully so that each role reflects a clear and practical responsibility.

Create a custom role

Use Create new custom role when you want to define a new permission-based role for members.

1. Click Create new custom role.
   
   
   
   
2. Enter the role name.
3. Add a short description.
4. Click Next.
   
   

At this stage, you are defining what kind of responsibility this role represents in the community.

The role name should clearly reflect its purpose, such as a 'space coordinator', 'forum moderator', 'knowledge lead', or 'events manager'. A short description helps make the role easier to understand and manage later, especially when multiple custom roles exist in the same community.

Configure module permissions

After entering the role details, you will reach the Module permissions screen.

This is where you decide what the role is allowed to do across different modules and selected host-level areas.

You can configure permissions for modules such as:

1. Spaces
2. Tasks
3. Forums
4. Town Hall
5. Manuals
6. and other supported modules

You can also configure selected host privileges such as:

1. Integrations
2. Data Export options
3. Settings permissions such as Manage Users, Roles and Permissions, Apps and Features, Dashboard, and Gamification

For each permission:

1. Click Enable.
   
2. Choose the appropriate permission level, such as Create, Manage, Delete, or Archive
   

The permission levels available depend on what is supported for that specific module or setting area.

This is where a superhost can carefully decide the exact level of control to delegate. Instead of granting broad access, you can give members only the actions they actually need.

For example:

1. Give someone permission to manage forums without allowing them to change community-wide settings
2. Allow a trusted member to archive content without giving them deletion access
3. Let someone create or manage module content without making them a host

Once the required permissions are configured, click Add to create the role.

Assign members to a custom role

After the custom role is created, click Members to directly access the members list within that role to add users.

This is the step where the role becomes active in practice, because members added here begin receiving the configured permissions.

Assign users to the role when you want them to start performing the responsibilities defined for that role.

This gives a superhost a more structured way to delegate ownership while keeping access intentional and controlled.

Manage an existing custom role

To manage an existing role, use the three-dot menu next to the role.

You can choose:

1. Manage
2. View Users

You can also use View Users to open the list of users assigned to that role.

Use Manage when you want to update the role itself.  Inside Manage, you can work across these sections:

1. General to update the role name and description
   
   
   
   
2. Permissions to update what the role is allowed to do
   
   
   
   
3. Users to manage who belongs to the role
   
   
   
   
4. Advanced to delete the role
   
   

This gives a superhost flexibility to evolve the role over time as the community grows or responsibilities change.

For example, you may need to:

1. Adjust a role after introducing a new module
2. Remove permissions that are no longer needed
3. Add more users into the role as operations expand
4. Update the role description so it remains clear to future admins

Know what happens when a role is deleted

If you delete a custom role, all users assigned to that role are moved back permanently to the default member role.

This is important for a superhost to understand before deleting a role, because the role’s permissions do not transfer anywhere else. Once deleted, those users lose the delegated privileges associated with that role.

So, you should only delete a role only when it is no longer needed and when you are certain those members should no longer retain that responsibility.

Custom roles are one of the best ways to decentralize management in a growing community. They help a superhost distribute work thoughtfully, empower trusted members, and keep full host access reserved only for users who truly need it.

Next: After creating custom roles for delegated responsibility, continue with User Profile Label to add visible labels that help identify user roles or access levels across the community.