How permissions work
About permissions
What an administrator can do on your survey site is set in two places, and what they see in the sidebar is set in a third:
| Level | Set in | Decides |
|---|---|---|
| Global permissions | Manage administrators, ... menu of the administrator > Edit permissions | What the person may do on the whole site: create surveys, manage administrators, change global settings, themes and plugins. |
| Survey permissions | The survey in the editor, Permissions icon in the left toolbar | What the person may do in one survey: edit it, see its responses, invite participants, translate it. |
| Sidebar icons | Configuration > Settings > Dashboard, Display this box to | Which icons of the sidebar the person sees. |
Superadministrators have every permission, and the owner of a survey has every permission on that survey.
Global permissions
Open Manage administrators, then the ... menu of an administrator and Edit permissions. Each row is an area, each column an action: General, Create, View/read, Update, Delete, Import and Export. General ticks every action of the row.
In the picture: 1 the areas, 2 the actions from General to Export, 3 a warning on an area that affects security.
| Area | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Surveys | Create surveys, with all permissions on your own surveys, and see, change and delete the surveys of other administrators. |
| Survey groups | Create survey groups, and see, change and delete the groups of other administrators. |
| Central participant database | Create participants, and see, change and delete the participants of other administrators. |
| Label sets | Create, see, change, delete, import and export label sets. |
| Themes | Create, see, change, delete, import and export themes. Changing or importing themes allows scripts, so give it only to people you trust. |
| Settings & plugins | See and change global settings and plugins. It includes security settings, so give it only to people you trust. |
| User groups | Create, see, change and delete user groups. |
| Users | Create, see, change and delete administrators. |
| Superadministrator | Every permission on the whole site. |
Survey permissions
Open the survey, click the Permissions icon in the left toolbar, add the person and tick what they may do in this survey.
| Area | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Survey content | Create, see, change, delete, import and export questions, groups, answers and conditions. |
| Survey text elements | See and change the title, description, welcome and end message. |
| Survey settings | See and change the survey settings, including creating the participant list. |
| Survey activation | Activate and deactivate the survey. |
| Survey security | Change the security settings of the survey. |
| Participants | Create, change, delete, import and export participants. |
| Responses | Enter, see, change, delete, import and export responses. |
| Statistics | See the statistics. |
| Quotas, Assessments | Create, see, change and delete quotas and assessment rules. |
| Quick translation | See and change the translations with Quick translation. |
See Survey permissions.
Sidebar icons
Each icon of the sidebar has its own setting under Configuration > Settings > Dashboard: Display this box to Everybody, Only admin (listed as Superadmin only), Nobody or one of your user groups. Out of the box, everybody sees Dashboard, and only superadministrators see Global settings, Themes, Manage administrators and Plugins. Showing an icon gives no permissions: what the person may do on the page it opens is set by their global permissions.
Examples
A colleague sees the results of one survey. Add the colleague as an administrator without global permissions. In the survey, add them under Permissions and tick Responses and Statistics with View/read.
A translator translates one survey. In the survey, give Quick translation with View/read and Update. The translator can change the texts of the other languages but not the structure of the survey. See Run a survey in several languages with Quick translation.
A co-author edits questions but doesn't launch the survey. In the survey, give Survey content and Survey text elements, and leave Survey activation unticked.
A team lead manages administrators. Give the global permission Users, and User groups if they organize groups. To show them the Manage administrators icon, put them in a user group and choose that group under Display this box to for the icon.
Next steps
FAQ
What is the difference between global and survey permissions?
Global permissions apply to the whole site, survey permissions to one survey. Someone who should work on a single survey needs no global permissions at all.
Why doesn't my colleague see an icon in the sidebar?
Out of the box, only superadministrators see Global settings, Themes, Manage administrators and Plugins. Change Display this box to for the icon. See Customize the sidebar.
Can I give several people the same permissions at once?
Yes. Save the permissions as a user role and assign the role. See Reuse permissions with user roles.