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Managing Solution Permissions

How to use Solution permissions to give the right level of access to members and your teams

Peter Novosel avatar
Written by Peter Novosel
Updated this week

Plan Availability

All plan types

Permissions

Administrators, Solution Managers

Related Reading


Overview of Solution Permissions

SmartSuite provides multiple levels of permissions and access controls to ensure secure and efficient management of your workspace:

  • System Roles: Users are assigned system-wide roles such as Administrator, Solution Creator, General User or Guest. These roles define the user's global permissions.

  • Solution Permissions: These allow fine-tuned control over access to specific Solutions, their Tables, and records.

Permission Levels

SmartSuite supports three primary Solution permission levels:

  1. All Members Have Full Access (Default)

    • Grants all workspace users the ability to create, read, update, and delete all records in the Solution.

  2. Only These Teams Have Full Access

    • Restricts access to one or more specified Teams.

    • Ideal for team-specific Solutions like HR, Executive Management, or Security.

  3. Advanced Permissions

    • Customizes permissions for individual users or teams, offering four levels of access:

      • Full Access: Ability to create, read, update, and delete all records.

      • Editor: Create and edit their own records but only view others.

      • Contributor: Create records and edit only the records they have been assigned

      • Assignee. The Members or Teams can view and edit content they have been assigned, but cannot create, view, or edit any other content.

      • Commenter. The Members or Teams can view all content but cannot create or edit any content.

      • Viewer. These users have read-only access to the Solution's records and are unable to create, update or delete. Note that viewers are allowed to comment on records.

Note: Users with the Solution Manager permission have full access to configure permissions and manage the Solution.


Working with Solution Permissions

Accessing the Solution Permissions Interface

Follow these steps to open the Solution Permissions configuration panel:

  1. Open the Solution by clicking its name on the home screen.

  2. Click the downward arrow next to the Solution name.

  3. Select Permissions from the dropdown menu.

  4. The Solution Permissions dialog will appear.

Configuring "All Members Have Full Access"

  1. Open the Solution Permissions dialog.

  2. Select All Members Have Full Access (default).

  3. This option grants all workspace members full access to the Solution.

Tip: Switching back to this mode will restore previously configured settings for team-specific or advanced permissions if you change modes later.


Configuring Team-Specific Access

  1. In the Solution Permissions dialog, select Only These Teams Have Full Access.

  2. Choose one or more Teams from the popup menu.

  3. Click Done to save your changes.

  • Key Points:

    • Members of the selected Teams will have full access to the Solution, Tables, and records.

    • Removing a user from a Team will immediately revoke their access to the Solution.


Configuring Advanced Solution Permissions

Use Advanced Permissions for granular control:

  1. In the Solution Permissions dialog, select Advanced Permissions.

  2. Assign one of the following access levels for each user or team:

    • Full Access

    • Editor

    • Contributor

    • Viewer

  3. Save your changes, and permissions will be applied instantly.

Note: Permissions are optimistic. If a user has multiple assigned roles (e.g., as an individual and as part of a Team), they will receive the highest level of assigned permissions.


Practical Scenarios and Use Cases

1. Department-Specific Access

Scenario: The HR department needs exclusive access to sensitive employee records. Solution: Configure the Solution to Only These Teams Have Full Access and select the HR Team.

2. Granular Permissions for Projects

Scenario: A project requires contributors to edit only their assigned tasks. Solution: Use Advanced Permissions to assign Contributor access to team members.

3. Open Collaboration Across Teams

Scenario: A workspace-wide initiative requires unrestricted collaboration. Solution: Set permissions to All Members Have Full Access for the Solution.

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