User Permissions and Roles

User Permissions and Roles

Communicate controls what each person can do and see through three layers:

  1. Role — what actions they can take (create, edit, delete, administer).
  2. Campus access — which location(s) they work in when multi-campus is on (Plus).
  3. Category access — which categories of content they can see (optional; all tiers).

Role and access scope are separate ideas. A Manager with Global access can work across every campus; the same role with Specific campuses might only see North Campus.

A fourth layer is your plan (Essentials vs Plus): Plus unlocks templates, Channel Schedules, multi-campus, assignments, comments, Timeline drag, communication duplicate, Requests, and AI Copy Generation—even for Owners. Optional campaign approval is available on both plans. Role permissions still apply inside each plan.

Set roles and access in Admin Console → Teams when you Invite a member or viewer, or Edit a person. Only Owners and Admins with global access can change another person’s campus or category scope.

Roles

Five roles exist in Communicate. The in-app role info (ℹ️ next to Role in Admin Console) matches the summaries below.

Owner

The all-access account holder.

  • Manages everything: campaigns, calendar, communications, templates, images, channels, categories, settings, billing, integrations, and users.
  • Only role with access to billing and payment settings.
  • Always has Global access when multi-campus is on. Category limits never apply.

Admin

Your day-to-day power user.

  • Can create, update, and delete campaigns, calendar entries, communications, templates, images, channels, and categories.
  • Can invite, edit, and remove users and adjust their roles.
  • Can edit Church Profile (organization branding and contact), including turning AI Features on or off and editing Church Voice (Plus).
  • Cannot change billing / payment settings (Owner only).
  • Always has Global access when multi-campus is on. Category limits never apply.

Manager

An operational lead with strong create/edit access.

  • Same content permissions as Admin for campaigns, communications, templates, images, channels, categories, colors, campuses, and assignments (including manage/reassign others).
  • Cannot open Admin console, manage the organization profile, or invite/remove users.
  • Cannot use AI Generate (Plus).
  • Can be organization-wide or limited to specific campuses when multi-campus is on.
  • Can be limited to specific categories (optional).

Editor

The content creator.

  • Can build and revise campaigns, calendar entries, communications, and templates; can use assignments (assign and update work; cannot use full “manage all” assignment tools).
  • Cannot delete campaigns, communications, or templates.
  • Can use AI Generate on campaigns and communications they can edit (Plus, once an Owner or Admin turns on AI Features).
  • Can view channels and categories (not create/edit/delete the lists). Can view Colors; cannot manage the palette.
  • Can be organization-wide or campus-limited; can be category-limited.

Viewer

Read-only observer with commenting.

  • Can browse the calendar, campaigns, and communications (in-app role text also mentions templates; the Viewer sidebar shows Calendar, Campaigns, Requests on Plus, and Help).
  • Can submit request forms and be asked to approve a campaign.
  • Can comment on Plus and manage their own notifications, but cannot create, edit, or delete content.
  • Can be organization-wide or campus-limited; can be category-limited.
  • No Assignments, Timeline, Channels, Categories, Colors, or Templates in the sidebar. Inside Requests they see Forms and Submissions (not Inbox).

Team limits: Owners, Admins, Managers, and Editors count toward your Team seat limit (1 on Essentials, 5 on Plus). Viewers are unlimited on every plan. Invite members from Teams → Members and viewers from Teams → Viewers—the member invite cannot pick Viewer.

Role capabilities (quick matrix)

Area Owner Admin Manager Editor Viewer
Campaigns / communications Full Full Full Create/edit; no delete View
Channels / categories Full Full Full View only View*
Colors Full Full Full View only —
Templates (Plus) Full Full Full Create/edit; no delete View*
Assignments (Plus) Full + manage Full + manage Full + manage Assign/edit; no manage-all —
Requests (Plus) Inbox + forms Inbox + forms Inbox + forms Fill forms; Inbox view-only Forms + own Submissions
Campaign approval Send / ask again Send / ask again Send / ask again Send / ask again Can be the approver
Comments (Plus) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AI Generate (Plus) Yes Yes — Yes —
AI Features and Church Voice (Plus) Manage Manage — — —
Admin console / Teams Yes Yes — — —
Church Profile Yes Yes — — —
Billing Yes — — — —

*Viewer may have view permission in the database for some items, but the Viewer sidebar hides those areas.

Campus access (multi-campus Plus)

Campus access only changes how the product behaves when multi-campus is fully active on Plus. Single-campus churches and Essentials plans do not use Global vs campus workspaces the same way.

Training shorthand: Global is shared across campuses. Campus is specific to one location.

Organization-wide (Global access)

When Global access is on (invite: Organization-wide), the person can:

  • Switch to the Global workspace in the top navigation (when the org has multiple campuses).
  • Work across every campus they are allowed to see at the organization level.
  • Edit global campaigns and global communications from the Global workspace (within their role).

Copy in the app: Can work across every campus in the organization.

Specific campuses

When Global access is off (invite: Specific campuses), the person:

  • Does not see Global in the workspace switcher.
  • With one campus assigned, may see only that campus name (no dropdown).
  • With several campuses, switches between those campuses only.
  • Sees campaigns and content filtered to those campuses. Global campaigns may appear for context but editing rules follow multi-campus (for example, global rows may be read-only in a campus workspace).

Choose at least one campus in the Campuses list. If no campuses exist yet, create them in the Campuses panel first.

Owners and Admins

Owners and Admins always have global access when multi-campus is on. The Global access control is disabled with the note: Owners and admins always have global access while multi-campus is active.

Multi-campus off

When multi-campus is not enabled, the invite and edit flows still assign one or more campuses, but there is no Global workspace toggle. Copy explains that multi-campus is off and you assign campuses directly.

Category access (all tiers)

Category access is optional and works on Essentials and Plus, with or without multi-campus.

  • Leave empty for full category access (default—same as before category limits existed).
  • Assign one or more categories to limit what the person sees.

Copy in the app: Optional. Leave empty for full category access. Assign one or more to limit what this person can see.

Who can be category-limited

  • Managers, Editors, and Viewers — yes.
  • Owners and Admins — never restricted; the UI shows All categories (owners and admins are never restricted).

What category limits affect

When categories are assigned, the user only sees content tagged with those categories:

Content Visible when
Campaigns Campaign’s category is in the assigned set
Communications on a campaign Inherits the campaign’s category
Standalone communications Communication’s own category is in the set; no category = hidden
Templates Template’s category is in the set; no category = hidden

Category pickers across the app (campaign create, template create, standalone comm modals) only show categories the user is allowed to use. Category scope applies to campaigns, communications, and templates — not request forms.

Category + campus together

When both campus scope and category assignments are active, both must allow the item for the user to see it.

Example: A youth pastor is limited to Youth category and North Campus only—they see Youth campaigns and communications for North Campus, not Adult Ministry or South Campus content.

Where to assign permissions

Invite a new user

Members (Admin, Manager, Editor) and Viewers are invited from different Invite buttons on Admin Console → Teams.

  1. Profile menu → Admin console → Teams
  2. Members column → Invite (opens Invite member; on Essentials at the team seat limit you may see Upgrade) or Viewers column → Invite (opens Invite viewer; role is locked to Viewer)
  3. Enter Email, First Name, Last Name
  4. For a member, choose Role (Admin, Manager, or Editor—Viewer is not in this picker)
  5. If multi-campus is on and the role is Manager/Editor/Viewer, choose Access:
    • Organization-wide, or
    • Specific campuses (pick at least one)
  6. Optionally choose Categories (Managers, Editors, Viewers only)
  7. Invite member or Invite viewer

Edit an existing member

  1. Admin Console → Teams → ⋮ on the member → Edit
  2. Change Role, Global access / campus access, and/or Categories
  3. Save

⋮ → Remove revokes access. You cannot change Owner roles, change your own role, or edit someone if you lack permission. The app shows You don't have permission to change access for this teammate when blocked.

Removing a member

Removing a team member revokes access immediately. If they had assignments, choose whether to unassign everything or reassign to another teammate.

How permissions feel in the app

Workspace (multi-campus Plus)

The WORKSPACE control filters lists and edit rights. Campus-limited users never get Global. See Multi-campus (Plus) for campaign schedules, calendar locks, and timeline rules.

Admin Console

Only Owners and Admins see Admin console in the profile menu (Admin Console page title). Managers, Editors, and Viewers do not.

Comments, assignments, and requests (Plus)

  • Comments — available on Plus for roles that can comment, including Viewers. Campaign/communication comments live on the assignment row.
  • Assignments — Owners, Admins, Managers, and Editors with assignment view get the Assignments sidebar item. Managers match Admins for manage/reassign; Editors can assign and edit without full manage-all tools. Viewers have no Assignments page and cannot be assignees; they can still be campaign approvers.
  • Requests — Owners, Admins, and Managers run Inbox and forms. Editors fill published forms and view Inbox read-only. Viewers fill forms and use Submissions. There is no Requester role.

AI Copy Generation (Plus)

Owners and Admins turn AI Features on and manage Church Voice in Admin Console → Church Profile. Owners, Admins, and Editors can click Generate on campaigns and communications they can edit in their current workspace. Managers and Viewers see Generate greyed out. See AI Copy Generation.

Timeline and Help

  • Timeline — in the sidebar for Owners, Admins, Managers, and Editors (not Viewers). Viewing and Quick Add work on Essentials; drag/resize needs Plus.
  • Help → Setup Guide — Owners, Admins, Managers, and Editors. Viewers see User Docs, Training Videos, and Feature Request only.

Campuses panel

Managing campuses (add, reorder, primary campus, turn multi-campus on) is separate from per-user campus assignment. The Campuses sidebar panel is permission-based; see multi-campus.

Essentials vs Plus (feature access)

Feature Essentials Plus
Calendar, Campaigns, Channels, Categories, Colors ✓ ✓
Channel Preferences ✓ ✓
Category access limits ✓ ✓
Duplicate campaign ✓ ✓
Unlimited Viewers ✓ ✓
Campaign approval (optional sign-off) ✓ ✓
Templates (Legacy & Smart) — ✓
Channel Schedules — ✓
Multi-campus / Global workspace — ✓
Assignments & comments — ✓
Requests (forms + Inbox) — ✓
AI Copy Generation and Church Voice — ✓
Timeline drag/edit — ✓
Duplicate communication — ✓
Larger file uploads (10MB vs 5MB) — ✓

Upgrade prompts appear in the app when an Essentials user tries a Plus-only action.

Quick reference

Layer Who it applies to Where to set Plan notes
Role Everyone Admin Console → Teams Team seats vs unlimited Viewers
Campus access Managers, Editors, Viewers (Owners/Admins always global) Invite / Edit → Access or Global access Meaningful when multi-campus Plus is on
Category access Managers, Editors, Viewers Invite / Edit → Categories All tiers; optional; does not apply to request forms
Plan features Whole organization Billing / upgrade Plus unlocks templates, schedules, collaboration, Requests, AI Copy Generation, etc.

Additional resources

Questions? [email protected]