🔧Custom Permissions

Custom permissions let you build a tailored access level for any user — scoped to specific events and only the features they actually need.

Not every team member fits neatly into a standard role. Custom permissions let you go beyond the built-in roles and build exactly the right access level for a specific person — whether that's a producer who should only see their own show, an outside accountant reviewing your order history, or a board member who just needs to see the sales numbers.

New to user roles? Custom permissions build on top of the standard role system. If you haven't set up users yet, start with the Managing Staff & Users guide first.

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Start Here: Common Scenarios

Most people only need custom permissions for a handful of situations. Find yours below and follow the checklist — you don't need to read the whole page.

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🎭 A Producer Who Should Only See Their Own Show

The situation: You have multiple producers running separate shows, and you don't want them seeing each other's ticket sales, customers, or data.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Dashboard → Users and find the user

2. Change their role to Custom, then click the gear icon (⚙️) that appears

3. In the Events field, search for and select their specific show

4. If they only need to see the show, leave the extra checkboxes unchecked — view access is on by default. Check Edit Only if they also need to make changes to the show itself.

5. Under Other Permissions, enable View Only for:

   • Customers

   • Orders

6. Leave everything else unchecked

7. Click Save Permissions

What this does: The producer can see their show, their ticket buyers, and their orders — nothing else. Their analytics will automatically show only data for that show. The "Create Show" option won't even appear in their interface.

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📊 An Outside Accountant or Financial Auditor

The situation: Someone external needs to review your order history and transaction records — but they should have no ability to touch anything else.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Dashboard → Users and find the user (or invite them first)

2. Change their role to Custom, then click the gear icon (⚙️)

3. Leave the Events field blank — they don't need event access

4. Under Other Permissions, enable View only for:

   • Orders

5. Leave all Platform Features unchecked

6. Click Save Permissions

What this does: The auditor can log in and see order history. That's it. No customer data, no shows, no financial tools — just the transaction records they need to do their job.

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📈 A Stakeholder Who Just Needs to See Analytics

The situation: A board member, investor, or director wants to check in on sales performance without having any ability to edit events or access patron data.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Dashboard → Users and find the user

2. Change their role to Custom, then click the gear icon (⚙️)

3. Leave the Events field blank

4. Leave all Other Permissions unchecked

5. Under Platform Features, enable Analytics

6. Click Save Permissions

What this does: The stakeholder can view your analytics dashboard and sales reports. They can't see individual orders, customer records, or anything else. If you want to scope their analytics to specific shows, add those events in the Events field — analytics will automatically filter to match.

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🎟️ A Box Office Volunteer for One Specific Show

The situation: A volunteer is working the door for one specific show and needs to check in tickets via POS, but shouldn't have access to anything else.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Dashboard → Users and find the user

2. Change their role to Custom, then click the gear icon (⚙️)

3. In the Events field, search for and select their specific show

4. Leave the extra checkboxes unchecked — view access is on by default, which is all they need

5. Leave all Other Permissions and Platform Features unchecked

6. Click Save Permissions

All roles — including Custom — have access to the POS app for in-person sales and check-ins by default.

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How to Assign Custom Permissions

You must be an Admin to assign or edit user permissions. Go to Dashboard → Users to get started.

1. Locate the user in your Users list

2. Open the role dropdown for that user and select Custom

3. Click Update to save the role change

4. A gear icon (⚙️) will appear next to the role dropdown — click it to open the permissions editor

5. Configure access using the sections below, then click Save Permissions

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Understanding the Permissions Editor

The permissions editor has three sections. Work through them top to bottom.

Step 1: Select Events

This is where you control which shows or classes this user can access.

• Type to search for a specific show or class and select it — you can add multiple

• Leave blank if this user doesn't need access to any events

Every user with event access can view those events by default — that's the baseline. Use the checkboxes below the event selector to grant additional capabilities if needed:

• Edit Only — the user can modify event details (name, dates, pricing, etc.) but cannot create new events or delete existing ones

• Full Access (create, delete, etc.) — the user has complete control, including creating new events and permanently deleting them

These access levels apply only to the events you've selected above — they do not affect any other part of the account. The Other Permissions grid below is a separate and independent set of controls.

Grant Full Access only to users you fully trust. Creating and deleting events are irreversible actions that affect ticket sales and patron data.

What gets automatically scoped: When you assign specific events, CrowdWork automatically limits that user's view of tickets, registrations, and analytics to only those events. You don't need to configure this separately — it happens on its own.

Step 2: Set Other Permissions

This grid controls access to specific data types and features across the platform. Each row is independent — you can mix and match freely.

Feature	View	Edit Only	Full Access
Discount Codes	See existing codes	Modify existing codes	Create new + delete codes
Orders	See transaction history	Add tickets to an existing order	Create new orders
Customers	See customer records	Edit customer record details	Create customer record + delete
Students	See student records	Edit student record details	Create student record + delete
Tags	See tags	Modify existing tags	Create new + delete tags
Notifications	See notifications	Edit existing notification content	Create new alerts + delete existing
Custom Fields	See custom fields	Modify existing fields	Create new fields + delete fields
Gift Cards	See gift card records	Modify gift card details	Create new gift cards + delete
Membership Tiers	See membership tiers	Modify tier details	Create new tiers + delete tiers
Memberships	See membership records	Manage patrons' memberships (retry/pause/cancel)	—
Payment Plans	See payment plan settings	Modify payment plan settings	Create new plans + delete plans
Payment Plans (Enrolled)	See enrolled payment plans	Modify an enrolled patron's plan	—
Waitlist	See waitlist entries	Manage waitlist entries (invite)	—

Not all features support all three access levels. Where a cell shows "—", checking that box has no additional effect beyond the level below it.

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Step 3: Enable Platform Features

These are account-wide capabilities that aren't tied to specific data. Each is a simple on/off toggle.

Feature	What it enables
Analytics	Access to the analytics and sales reporting dashboard
Issue Refunds	Ability to process refunds on orders
Manage Users	Ability to invite and manage other users (use with caution)

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How the Interface Adapts

One of the most useful things about Custom permissions: CrowdWork's interface adjusts automatically based on what the user can access. Menu items, buttons, and actions that aren't available to that user simply won't appear. A user who can't create shows won't see the "Create Show" button. A user scoped to one event won't see data from other events.

This means you don't need to worry about users accidentally stumbling into things they shouldn't see — the system handles that for you.

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Tips

• Start minimal. Give the user only what they've asked for. It's easy to add more later, and much harder to explain why someone saw something they shouldn't have.

• Scoping events also scopes analytics. If you add specific events, that user's analytics view automatically reflects only those events — a useful side effect for producers or show-specific staff.

• Custom doesn't replace standard roles. For most team members, a standard role (Box Office, Producer, Manager, etc.) is the right choice and easier to maintain. Reach for Custom only when a standard role doesn't fit the situation.

• Review permissions periodically. If a contractor or guest auditor finishes their work, remove their access promptly via Dashboard → Users.

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Related Topics

Task	Guide
Invite a new user	Managing Staff & Users
Understand the standard roles	Managing Staff & Users → Understanding User Roles
Troubleshoot access issues	Managing Staff & Users → Troubleshooting