As project requirements evolve, user privileges may need to be modified accordingly. In Canto, you have the flexibility to customize roles by adjusting default settings, or to create new roles tailored to your specific needs. To learn more about the basic principles behind user roles, please visit the article "An introduction to user roles".
Customize a user role
From the Main Library, click on your profile icon in the top right corner – if this has not been adjusted, the default icon used will be – to open the "Profile & Settings" menu, and select "Settings".
Once the Settings page has opened, the tab "Users & Groups" should automatically be selected. If it is not, select it first, and then click "Privileges" on the left side of the tab.
The top of the tab will update to show the user roles currently on your Canto tenant, starting with the Contributor and Consumer roles, followed by any custom roles you may have created. Click on the name of a role to select it, which updates the area below to show all the privileges available to this specific role. To grant a privilege, activate the corresponding checkbox, and deactivate the checkbox to revoke the privilege again.
You can learn more about the individual privileges in the article "User privilege index".
Once you are satisfied with the privileges granted to a role, click on
in the top right to confirm your choices.
Video Tutorial: How to use the Consumer role to manage permissions
This video provides an example of the steps provided above – based on the Consumer role – and briefly touches on managing download permissions in portals. To learn more about privileges in relation to portals, please visit the article How to: Manage user access to portals.
Create a new custom role
Each Canto tenant can support up to three custom roles. To get started, click on your profile icon in the top right corner – if this has not been adjusted, the default icon used will be – to open the "Profile & Settings" menu, and select "Settings".
Once the Settings page has opened, the tab "Users & Groups" should automatically be selected. If it is not, select it first, and then click "Privileges" on the left side of the tab.
The top of the tab will update to show the user roles available in your Canto tenant, starting with the Contributor and Consumer roles, followed by any custom roles. To create a new role, click the -symbol in the top right.
Enter the name for the new role in the "Add New Custom Role" overlay, and click "Submit".
The new role will now appear as an additional tab at the top of the panel. This tab will automatically be selected to show the available privileges, some of which are already selected by default. You can now activate a checkbox to grant the corresponding privilege, or deactivate a checkbox to revoke it.
Once you are satisfied with the privileges granted to a role, click in the top right to confirm your choices.
Video Tutorial: How to create custom user roles in Canto
The video below offers a brief walkthrough of the custom role creation process, and briefly shows how to update the role of a user. Updating a user's role will be discussed in detail further on in this article, in the section "Change a user's role".
Delete a custom role
Sometimes it can be useful to delete an unused role, in order to replace it with a new one. To do so, access the "Privileges" menu on the Settings page, as described at the start of the section "Create a new custom role".
Select the tab of the role you wish to remove, and click on the -symbol on the right.
A pop-up will appear. Click "Yes" to confirm your decision and delete the role.
Change a user's role
While a user's privileges can be adjusted by changing the settings of the role, it is often simpler to change the role assigned to the user.
Open the "Profile & Settings" menu by clicking on your profile icon in the top right corner – if this has not been adjusted, the default icon will be – and select "Settings".
On the Settings page, ensure that the "Users & Groups" tab is selected, then click on "Users" on the left side of the page.
The right side of the tab will show a list of all users. Find the user you wish to adjust – either manually, or by using the search bar – and click the corresponding -icon on the right.
In the "Edit User" panel, look for the section "Role". Click on the user's current role to open a drop-down menu. Select the new role from this menu, and click on in the top right corner to confirm your changes. If you want to learn more about managing user profiles, please visit the articles "Add new Users" and "Edit Users".
View Canto as different roles
Users with the Administrator role have the option to temporarily switch to another role. This can help to gain a fresh perspective, and enhance the ability to provide support to your user base.
To change your role, click on your profile icon in the top right corner – if this has not been adjusted, the default icon used will be – to open the "Profile & Settings" menu, and select "Profile".
Once the Profile page has opened, click on "Change Role View".
The "Sign in As" section will appear on the right, showing the role you are currently using. If this is your first time accessing this section of the profile page, the default view should be that of the Admin role. Click on the role to open a drop-down menu, and select the role you would like to change your view to.
Click on "Save" at the top of the page to confirm the change, and then switch back to the Main Library. Your view will now match that of a user with the role you chose. To return to the default Administrator view, repeat the steps above and change the view setting back to "Admin".
Should you sign out of Canto while using the view of a different role, your view will automatically be reset to the Administrator role the next time you sign in.