You can assign or change a user role for any team member from the Team section in your Thinkific Admin Dashboard at any time. Roles can only be assigned to existing users.
Applies to:
- Plan: Basic, Start, Grow, Expand, Pro, Pro + Growth, Premier, Plus
- Role: Site Owner, Site Admin
How to Assign a Role to an Existing User
You can assign roles to an existing user using the Team Members table or a Roles table.
How to Assign a Role to an Existing User Using the Team Members Table
The Team Members table displays all users with assigned roles. To add a new team member and assign them a role using the Team members table:
- From the Admin Dashboard, select Team
- Select Team Members
- Click + Add team member
- Search for a user by name or email
- Review if a user has any existing roles
- Select + Assign role
- Search for the role you want to assign among default and custom roles
- Select the role
- Select Assign role
- If selecting a role that requires assignment to a specific resource (e.g. Course Admin can be assigned to a specific course, or a Group Analyst can be assigned to a specific group), select the resource(s) to assign the team member to
- Select Select and assign role
- Once all required roles are added, select Save team member
How to Assign a Role to an Existing User Using the Roles Table
The Roles table displays all roles that are available on your site (default and custom). To assign a role to a user using the Roles table:
- From the Admin Dashboard, select Team
- Select Roles
- Navigate between the Default roles and Custom roles tabs and find the role you want to assign
- Click on the role name
- Select the Team members tab
- Under the Assign an existing team member to this role, search for a user by name or email
- Select the user
- Select Assign
The user will be assigned to the selected role. If selecting a role that requires assignment to a specific resource (e.g. Course Admin can be assigned to a specific course, or a Group Analyst can be assigned to a specific group), continue with the following steps:
- In the Team members tab, select the name of the newly assigned team member from the list
- Find the role you assigned
- Select the three dots on the right-hand side
- Select Edit role access
- Select the resource(s) to assign the team member to e.g. Course Admin can be assigned to a specific course, or a Group Analyst can be assigned to a specific group)
- Select Save changes
How to Remove a Role from a Team Member
You can remove a role from an existing user using the Team Members table. To remove a role from an existing team member:
- From the Admin Dashboard, select Team
- Select Team Members
- Find the team member you want to remove a role from
- Click on the team member's name
- Review the roles the team member is assigned to and find the one you want to remove
- Select the three dots on the right-hand side
- Select Remove role
- Review the changes
- Select Remove role
Important Considerations
- Users must be created on your site before they can be assigned to a role. Learn more here: How to Create a New User. By default, all new user accounts are created as student accounts.
- The number of team members you can assign roles to depends on the number of available licences on your Thinkific plan. If you have reached your plan's licence limit, you will need to remove an existing team member or upgrade your plan before assigning a new one.
- Custom roles are available on Plus plans only. If you do not see a custom role in the role list, confirm your plan includes Custom Roles.
- You can assign multiple default roles to a team member, but Site Admin can't be combined with Course Admin, Group Analyst, or Community Moderator.
- You can only assign one custom role.
- Removing a role will revoke users permissions and access to all associated courses, groups, communities, bundles, and other associated immediately.
- Without a role, the user will no longer appear in the Team Members page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I assign a role to multiple team members at once?
Bulk role assignment is not currently available. Roles must be assigned to team members individually from each user's detail page.
What's the difference between a default role and a custom role?
Default roles — Site Admin, Course Admin, Group Analyst, Community Moderator, and Seat Manager — are Thinkific's built-in roles with fixed permissions. Custom roles are created by Site Owners or Site Admins on Plus plans and can have any combination of permissions. To learn more, see: Custom Roles: Build the Right Access for Every Team Member.