Users
Learn how to create, manage, and assign permissions to users in the Umbraco backoffice.
Users are people who have access to the Umbraco backoffice (not to be confused with Members). These could include Content Editors, Translators, Web Designers, and Developers.
This guide will walk you through how to create and invite users, manage user profiles, work with User Groups and permissions in the backoffice.
Creating a User
To create or invite a User:
Go to the Users section in the backoffice.
Select Create -> User. Alternatively, click Invite....
Enter the Name and Email of the new user.
Select which User group the new user should be added to.
[Optional] Enter a Message for the invitation.
Click Create user or Send invite.
Once you have created the user, the new user will receive a system-generated password for their initial login. This password needs to be used to access the account.
Managing a User Profile
Open a user’s profile from the Users section to update:
Profile photo.
Email address of the user.
UI Culture (sets the backoffice language of the user account).
User Group (determines the scope of access in the backoffice).
Start nodes for both Content and Media sections to limit access.
Managing Users
When working with multiple users in Umbraco, the user screen provides tools to help you quickly locate and manage users using filters and layout options.
Filter and Organize Users
At the top of the Users section, use the search bar to quickly find a user by typing their name or email address.
Use the Status filter to narrow down users based on their current state:
Active – Users who have logged in and are enabled.
Disabled – Users whose access has been explicitly turned off.
Locked out - User has been automatically blocked from logging in after too many failed login attempts.
Invited - User has been invited to access the Umbraco backoffice.
Inactive – Users who haven't logged in or have been disabled.
The Groups filter lets you view users based on the user groups they belong to. For example, Administrators, Editors, Sensitive data, Translators, and Writers.
Use Order by to sort users by:
Name (A–Z)
Name (Z-A)
Newest
Oldest
Last Login
Layout Options
Users are displayed in Grid format by default, showing:
Initials, full name, and group membership.
Login status (for example, “Inactive” label).
Last login time (if applicable).
Click the table/grid icon (top-right corner) to switch to a more compact, column-based layout.
Default User Groups
By default, the User Groups available to new users are Administrators, Editors, Sensitive Data, Translators, and Writers.
Administrators: Can do anything when editing nodes in the content section (has all permissions).
Editors: Allowed to create and publish content items or nodes on the website without approval from others or restrictions (has permissions to Public Access, Rollback, Browse Node, Create Content Template, Delete, Create, Publish, Unpublish, Update, Copy, Move and Sort).
Sensitive data: Any users added to this User group will have access to view any data marked as sensitive. Learn more about this feature in the Sensitive Data article.
Translators: These are used for translating your website. Translators are allowed to browse and update nodes as well as grant dashboard access. Translations of site pages must be reviewed by others before publication (has permissions to Browse Node and Update).
Writers: Allowed to browse nodes, create nodes, and request for publication of items. Not allowed to publish directly without someone else's approval like an Editor (has permissions to Browse Node, Create, Send to Publish, and Update).
Creating a User Group
You can also create your own custom User Groups and add properties and tabs as you would with Document Types and Member Types.
Go to the Users section.
Select User Groups.
Click Create.
User Group Parameters
Enter the information about the User Group and settings for custom properties:
Name: The name of the User Group.
Alias: Used to reference the User Group in code - the alias will be auto-generated based on the name.
Assign access: Define which sections and languages the users will have access to. Also, if the users should have access to only some or all content and media.
Default Permissions: Select the default permissions granted to users of the User Group.
Granular permissions: Define a specific node the users in the group should have access to.
User Permissions
Depending on which User Group a user is added to, each user has a set of permissions associated with their accounts. These permissions either enable or disable a user's ability to perform their associated function.
The available user Permissions are defined under Default Permissions in the User group.
Granular Permissions
As an addition to the Default Permissions, it is also possible to add more granular permissions on a User Group level.
With the Documents permission, you can define granular permissions on specific documents. This is useful when a User Group should only have limited access to a certain page on the website. Clicking Add opens a dialog where you can choose between documents from the Content section.
With the Document Property Values permission, you can define both read and write permissions for individual properties on a Document Type. This is useful if a User Group should have limited access to edit the content on a specific type of document. Clicking Add opens a dialog where you select a Document Type, choose a Property, and, finally, set the read and write permissions.
Setting User Permissions
When a new user is created, you can set specific permissions for that user on different domains and subdomains. You can also set permissions on different User Groups, even for the default types.
Technical
As a developer, you are only able to leverage your website from the backoffice when you build on the Users section of Umbraco. This is because the Users section is restricted to the Umbraco backoffice.
Umbraco Forms has a backoffice security model integrated with Umbraco Users. You can manage the details in the Users section of the backoffice, within a tree named Forms Security.
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