Manage Profiles - Zoho Desk Knowledgebase

Creating and Managing User Profiles

Default profiles

These are system-defined and cannot be edited.
  1. Support Administrator: By default, admin profile users have access to all the features. However, they can also choose to enable and use only the specific options and functionalities they need within their profile permissions settings.
  2. Agent: This profile has limited access to the features.
  3. Light Agents: This profile has very limited set of permissions (such as read-only).

Custom profiles

These are also system-defined, but you can edit them and change the permissions as needed. All these profiles have limited access.
  1. Newbie Agent
  2. Supervisor
  3. Support Manager
Notes
Note: By default, the users that you import will have the following:
  1. Role - Manager
  2. Profile - Agent.
After importing, admins can change the roles and profiles from the Agents page.

Profile permissions

Profile permissions define the action that can be performed when the permission is enabled. Depending on the users role in the organization the permissions can be allotted, eg., support manager can be given the permission to add agents, setup assignment rule and support rep is not given these permissions. 
Profile permissions are categorized into four groups, for each profile the below mentioned permissions are provided which include the relevant actions and the permissions for each of those. Admins must enable each of these based on the user's role in the organization.
  1. Module permission
  2. Ticket permission
  3. Administrative permission
  4. Multi-department permission

Module permissions

Standard and custom modules are listed here and only if the module permission is enabled, users under that profile can view that module in their Desk account. For eg., if Contacts module is disabled for support reps profile all users who belong to this profile will not be able to view this module. 
For each module a list of permissions are displayed which determine if they can create, edit or delete records in those modules. Administrators must enable the permission for each module individually.
  1. View Records - Allow or disallow agents from viewing a particular record, such as tickets or contacts.
  2. Create Records - Allow or disallow agents from creating a particular record, such as tickets or contacts.
  3. Update Records - Allow or disallow agents from modifying a particular record.
  4. Delete Records - Allow or disallow agents from deleting a particular record, such as tickets or contacts.
  5. Update/Delete All Records - Allow or disallow agents from modifying or deleting all records.
  6. Manage KB - Enable users to manage the Knowledge Base within a department. When the Manage KB setting is checked, the agents can perform the following actions only in the departments they have been added to:
    1. View, create, edit, and delete articles and categories
    2. View articles in the recycle bin
    3. View access settings
    4. View sort articles section
  1. Admin Access - This setting allows users to access KB across departments. For example, the content director or head of the educational department could benefit from having a control over the knowledge base of all departments. When the Admin Access permission is enabled, users can:
    1. View, create, edit, organize, and delete articles and categories
    2. Sort knowledge base articles
    3. View, restore, and delete articles in the recycle bin
    4. Enable or disable options in Access Setting
NotesNote: The Organize Category option is not displayed for users who only have Manage KB permission.

The module permission is divided into two:
  1. Access permission
  2. Custom view permission

Access permission

It defines whether the users can create, view, update or delete these modules. 

Custom view permission

Users can create custom views in the respective modules eg., Tickets, Accounts, Patients, Students etc. The custom view permission is further divided into two to clearly define whether users can take actions only in the views created by them or the ones shared with them. 
  1. Custom views created by the user - create, edit, delete, share the views created by them.
  2. Custom views shared with the user - edit, delete, or reshare views created by others. 
For example, a user will need full permissions (create, edit, delete, share) for the views they create. However, when a view is shared with other users, they can restrict them from performing certain actions, such as editing or deleting. 

Views created by the user
These permissions apply to the user who creates the custom views.
    1. Create / Edit / Delete - Allows the user to create, edit, and delete the custom views they have created.
    2. Share - Allows the user to share the custom views they have created with other.
    Views shared with the user
    These permissions apply to the user with whom the custom view is shared. 
    1. Edit - Allows the user to edit the custom views. If this permission is not granted, the user can only view the shared custom views.
    2. Delete - Allows the user to delete the custom views shared with them.
    3. Reshare - Allows the user to share the custom view with other users.

    Ticket permissions

    It defines the actions users can perform within the tickets such as sending email replies, closing a ticket, and changing ticket ownership.
    1. Send Email - For sending email replies to customer tickets.
    2. Change Ownership - For changing ownership of all tickets, only unassigned tickets or none.
    3. View Unassigned - For viewing unassigned tickets. When enabled, agents can view all the unassigned tickets and their own tickets.
    4. Close Tickets - For closing support tickets.
    5. Review Emails - For being reviewers who will approve email replies sent for review by other agents.
    6. Find and Merge - For merging up to three tickets into a single ticket.
    7. Add Followers - For adding followers to support tickets.

    8. Add / Remove Followers - For adding or removing followers to support tickets.

    9. Revoke Blueprint: For disassociating or revoke blueprint from tickets. Admins will have this permission enabled by default and they can enable this permission for other user profiles if required.

    10. Manage Tags - For managing tags in the ticket's detail view.

    Administrative permissions

    Users with these permissions can perform administrative activities such as add or remove agents and teams, configure automation rules, import and export data etc.
    1. Comment Permissions - For editing or deleting agent comments. When disabled, agents cannot leave a comment on any record.
    2. Manage Agents - For managing your agents. You can choose whether they can view, add, update, and delete other users.
    3. Manage Teams - For adding and modifying your help desk teams.
    4. Manage Permissions - For administering permissions such as roles, profiles, and data-sharing rules.
    5. Rebranding - For rebranding your help desk, such as managing logo, host mapping domains, and handling multi-brand help centers.
    6. Manage Modules - For managing the various modules such as Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts. When enabled, agents can rename, select, and unselect modules.
    7. Helpdesk Automation - For managing the various automation functions such as Workflows, Blueprints, Macros, etc.
    8. Manage Departments - For adding, modifying, enabling, and disabling departments in your help desk.
    9. Customer Happiness Ratings - For managing the Customer Happiness feature under Setup.
    10. Email and Ticket Templates - For adding, editing, and deleting the email and ticket templates used in your help desk.
    11. Administrator Dashboard - For viewing the Headquarters dashboard with information of all the agents. When disabled, users can view only their data.
    12. Agent Overview - For viewing Overview, Tickets, Time Entry, and Happiness Rating information of other users on their profile page.
    13. Manage Layouts and Fields - For managing the layouts, fields, and ticket status under Setup.
    14. End Users - For performing actions such as inviting, re-inviting, activating, deactivating, editing, and deleting Help center users or your customers who access your help center.
    15. Google Analytics Dashboard - For accessing the Google Analytics' dashboard for Knowledge Base.
    16. Approve End User Signups - For acting as moderators who approve or deny end user signups in the help center.
    17. Support Channels - For managing the settings concerning support channels such as email, community, chat, and telephony.
    18. Import Records - For importing records into your help desk. You can even specify what records users are allowed to import.
    19. Export Records - For exporting records from your help desk. You can even specify what records users are allowed to export.
    20. Manage General Settings - For managing the general settings of tickets, contacts, and agents under Setup.
    21. Multilingual - For managing access to the multilingual setup page. By default, multilingual permission is enabled for the Administrator profile.
    22. Manage Time Tracking - For managing access to the time tracking setup page. By default, time tracking permission is enabled for the Administrator profile. With this permission, users can track time spent on tickets, each task, and billable time entries.
    23. Webhooks - For managing the webhooks created in your help desk. Note that this permission overrides module-level or department-specific permissions.
    24. Gamescope - For managing the gamification settings of the Gamescope feature under Setup.
    25. Manage Privacy Settings - For accessing and processing the Data Subject Requests and the option to enable read receipts.

    Multi-department permissions

    These permissions allow users to perform actions that require access to multiple departments such as creating global reports, sharing and moving tickets between departments, and accessing data across departments.
    1. Global Reports and Dashboards - For creating reports that include metrics across multiple departments.
    2. Access Data across Departments - For accessing data across multiple departments.
    3. Move Tickets - For moving tickets between departments.
    4. Share Tickets - For sharing tickets with other departments in your help desk
    5. Creating Profiles - Any time you create a new profile, you need to close an existing one. After cloning, you can customize the profile permissions as required to create the new one.

    Cloning or creating new profiles

    The predefined default and custom profiles provided in Desk can be cloned and edited to create new profiles according to one's business requirement. 
    To create a profile
    1. Click the Setup > User Management > Profiles.
    2. In the Profiles page, click New Profile.
    3. In the New Profile page, do the following:
      1. Enter the Profile Name.
      2. Select an existing profile from the Clone Profile drop-down list.
        This is the profile that will be cloned to create the new profile.
      3. Enter the Profile Description.
    4. Click Save.

    Editing profile Permissions

    The Custom Default Profiles and the custom profiles that you clone can be edited to make changes to the permissions. For some, there are granular-level permissions as well. For example, for modules, you can separately control the permissions to view, create, edit or delete records. Another such example is for Manage Agents where you can control the permissions to view, add, update, or delete agents. By default, the users with the Support Administrator profile can manage these permissions. Additionally, users whose profile has the Manage Permissions option enabled can also make changes.
    To edit permissions
    1. Navigate to Setup > User Management > Profiles.
    2. In the Profiles page, select the profile that you want to modify.
    3. In the Profile Information page, specify the access permissions for the following:
      1. Module Permissions
      2. Ticket Permissions
      3. Administrative Permissions
      4. Multi-department Permissions

    API based exception in profile permission

    While profile permissions define the actions users can perform in a module, record or the organization account which is primarily determined by their role. However, there are some exceptions in cases when APIs are used. 
    For Department and Team level permissions, by using the respective GET API users can view the respective metadata:
    1. Department IDs
    2. Department descriptions
    3. Creation timestamps
    4. Creator IDs
    5. Default department status
    6. Customer portal visibility
    7. Additional department metadata
    8. Team names
    9. Team IDs
    10. Department associations
    11. Other team metadata returned by the API
    The GET API allows the users to only 'View' the above mentioned details, they are still restricted by the profile permission from performing actions like creating, editing, or deleting. 

    Associating users to a profile

    Every Desk user is associated with a profile and role. Users with the Support Administrator profile or any user with the Manage Agents (Add and Update) permission enabled can associate a profile for Desk users.

    To associate users with a profile
    1. Click the Setup > User Management > Agents.
    2. In the Agents list page, hover over an agent's name and click    (the Edit icon).
      Alternatively, you can click on the agent's name to view the details and then edit.
    3. In the Edit Agent Information page under Roles select the default one or choose Custom to select the profile from the pick list field.
    4. Click Save.

    Deleting Profiles

    When you have some unwanted profiles, make sure to check if they are associated with any user before planning to delete them. Users associated with the profile that will be deleted must be transferred to other existing profiles. Note, you can delete all the profiles except Support Administrator, Light Agent, and Agent profiles.
    To delete a profile
    1. Click the Setup > User Management > Profiles.
    2. In the Profiles page, click   (the Delete icon) for the specific profile.
    3. In the Delete Profile page, transfer the existing users to the new profile.
    4. Click Transfer & Delete.