Creating a Custom Role

For small teams and projects, our default user roles (Admin, Editor, and Writer) should be sufficient. However, there are many scenarios where you might need a custom role for your project. This article will help you create a custom role from scratch the right way.

Creating a Custom Role

To create a custom role, go to the Roles page, which you can access in the account level menu under Team.

Once you're on the Roles page, find and click the Add new role button.

An input field for your new role will appear. Give it a name and a description, then click the save icon.

Congratulations, you've just created a new role!

But right now, it doesn't do anything. You need to give it permissions first. To give your new role permissions, scroll down the page until you get to the permissions section. Simply toggle the permissions you want to give to the new role.

To learn more about permissions you can read this article.

Now, assuming you've already given the correct permissions for your new role, it's time for the next step: assigning this role to a user.

Assigning the Custom Role to a User

To assign a custom role to a user, go to the Users page, which you can access in the account-level menu under Team.

Once you're on the User's page, find the user you want to assign the custom role to, then:

1. Click the corresponding Edit button under the Actions column.
2. A window containing the user's data will show up.
3. Under the role dropdown, select your new custom role.
4. After that, click Save and you're done!

Your custom role is all set up, but it's not yet fully ready. There's one last step you need to do.

Assigning the Custom Role to a Workflow

You've created your custom role and assigned it to a user. But something is wrong.

Based on the permissions you've given, the user with your new custom role should be able to claim a brief or edit an item once it reaches a certain workflow status. But why can't the user with your brand new custom role claim a brief or edit a content item?

The reason behind this, even if you gave the correct permissions, is that your custom role is not assigned to a workflow status. You need to assign it to a workflow status first. See "Why can't I assign a user to a brief?" to fix this problem and to learn more about it.