"Viewing As" Feature – Admin Perspective Testing
The "Viewing As" feature allows Solution Managers and Administrators to view a Solution from the perspective of another user, ensuring that permissions and configurations are correctly applied. This feature helps administrators quickly verify user access, data visibility, and interface settings.
Plan Availability | All plan types |
Permissions | Available to Solution Managers (for specific solutions) and Administrators (for all solutions). |
Related Reading |
Feature Access
The "Viewing As" feature is accessible from the Solution Action Menu.
Only Solution Managers and Administrators can use this feature.
Once selected, an input field in the header allows administrators to choose a user for perspective viewing.
Selecting a User Perspective
User Selection
After selecting "View As", a dropdown menu appears in the header, allowing administrators to choose a user.
The dropdown displays all users with access to the current Solution.
Supports searching and displaying up to 10,000 users.
Feature Details
The feature is solution-specific—it does not allow switching between Solutions while in Viewing As mode.
The following capabilities are disabled while in Viewing As mode:
Return to Home Page
Power Search
Member Directory
Favorites
My Work
Notifications
User Profile Menu
"Viewing As" Interface and Permissions
The entire Solution interface is rendered as the selected user, reflecting:
Permissions (what data they can access).
Restricted Fields (any hidden or limited fields).
Interface Customizations (specific views, layouts, and filters applied to their role).
This ensures accurate testing of permissions and UI configurations.
Exit “Viewing As” Mode
A clear "Exit Viewing As" button allows administrators to return to their standard view.
Exiting immediately restores full admin access and regular interface options.
Display By Options
When the View As feature is enabled, you have several options for displaying users to select from in the dropdown.
Note: Only Members (users) with access to the Solution are displayed, regardless of the "display by" filter option selected.
Options include:
Member (default). Displays an alphabetical list of Members in the workspace.
Other display options. Options other than "Member" display users by their corresponding Member Profile settings:
Department
Company
Type
Location
Timezone
Searching for a User
In all Display By modes you can use the search bar to filter users by the text contained in:
The user's name
Department
Company
Type (Employee, Contractor, etc).
Location
Timezone
View By: Displayed Information
The Solution interface is displayed exactly as the selected user would see it, including:
Visible records, fields, and views based on their access level.
Permissions-based restrictions on data and actions.
Custom layouts, dashboards, and workflow settings applied to the user’s role.
Practical Scenarios and Use Cases
1. Verifying Permissions
Scenario: A Solution Manager wants to ensure that table and field permissions are configured appropriately for a risk management workflow.
Solution: View the Solution as a variety of users, corresponding to the permission types assigned in the workflow (read-only users, assessors, reviewers, and managers for example).
2. Verifying Dashboards
Scenario: Dashboards include data that is pulled from multiple tables that have different permissions.
Solution: Use view as to ensure that dashboards are configured appropriately for all user types.
3. Troubleshooting User-Reported Issues
Scenario: A user reports that they cannot see specific records or perform an expected action in the Solution (e.g., submitting a form or editing a record).
Solution: An Administrator uses "Viewing As" to select the reporting user’s perspective, allowing them to replicate the issue, identify whether it’s a permissions misconfiguration, a UI glitch, or a workflow restriction, and resolve it efficiently without needing to log in as the user separately.