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Advanced Permissions: Profiles

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Profiles control what a user can do with a record: read, create, edit, or delete, set per record type.

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How profiles work

A profile grants levels of access by record type. Users read, create, edit, or delete according to the profile they’re assigned. Some permissions depend on others; a profile cannot edit Contacts unless it can also read them. Two additional settings, Read All and Modify All, override all roles and sharing rules: Read All lets a user read every record of a type regardless of role or sharing rules, and Modify All lets a user create, edit, or delete every record of that type regardless of role or sharing rules.

Profiles also cover Tickets and Knowledge Articles for accounts using Insightly Service. If a user without a Service license has Read All and Modify All set, they can reach those records through the Related tab of records they’re linked to. Without those permissions, they only see Tickets and Knowledge Articles they own.

CRM User Profiles Settings Management Page — The image shows the Profiles section in Insightly CRM’s System Settings, listing three profiles—Standard User, Administrator, and Chef - Lyla—with their assigned user counts and whether they are custom profiles. This would help readers understand how to view, manage, and differentiate between default and custom user profiles, including available actions like editing, deleting, cloning, and assigning profiles.

Configuring a profile

Set the permitted actions per record type. This is where you limit a user’s ability to change or remove records without restricting what they can see, which roles handle separately.

Add Profile Form with App Settings — This screenshot shows the “Add Profile” page in Insightly CRM, where administrators can name a new user profile and control which apps (CRM, Marketing, and Service) are available to users assigned that profile. This is relevant for readers learning how to create and configure user access profiles within their organization. Add Profile Basic Permissions Configuration Screen — This screenshot shows the “Add Profile” form in Insightly CRM, where administrators can name a profile (here called “Read-Only”) and set Read, Create, Edit, and Delete permissions for objects like Tasks, Contacts, Organizations, and Leads using checkboxes. This would help administrators understand how to create and configure user profiles with specific access controls for different record types.
Add Read-Only Profile with Basic Permissions — The screenshot shows a dialog box for creating a new user profile named “Read-Only,” where only the Read checkbox is selected for all object types including Tasks, Contacts, Organizations, Leads, Opportunities, Projects, Emails, Notes, and Events. This configuration restricts users assigned to this profile from creating, editing, or deleting any records, making it useful for giving certain users view-only access to CRM data. Assigning Users to Read-Only Profile — The screen shows the interface for assigning users to the Read-Only profile in Insightly CRM, featuring a searchable list of available users on the left and a panel for assigned users on the right, connected by Add and Remove arrow buttons. This is relevant for administrators who need to understand how to control user access permissions by assigning specific users to a restricted, read-only role.

Administrative permissions

Separate from record-level permissions, a profile can also be granted Administrative Permissions: categories like managing users, security, automation, and integrations, each with its own checkbox.

Insightly CRM Administrative Permissions Settings — This image displays a list of administrative permission categories in Insightly CRM, each with a checkbox and a brief description of what that permission controls, such as managing users, security, automation, and integrations. A support article reader would reference this to understand which permissions to enable when configuring administrator roles for their team.

Granting any Administrative Permission adds the System Settings menu option to that profile’s User menu. Options the profile isn’t permitted to manage still appear in System Settings, but attempting to open one redirects back to the main System Settings page with a “You do not have permission to access this system setting” message.

ℹ️ Manage Interface Customization is the one exception: it’s not covered by the System Settings redirect behavior, since it governs menu options within Insightly objects rather than System Settings itself. A profile with Manage Interface Customization but not Manage Data Definitions can handle layout rules, custom buttons, and page layouts, but can’t create, edit, or delete objects or fields.

Assigning a Page Layout to a profile

Profiles determine which Page Layout a user sees, so different teams can view the same object arranged for their needs. An accountant might see a billing layout while a project manager sees specifications.

Lead Page Layout Assignments in Insightly CRM — The screenshot shows the Page Layout Assignments screen for the Lead object in Insightly’s System Settings, listing three profiles (Standard User, Administrator, and Nipuna’s profile) each assigned to the Lead Layout. An “Edit Assignments” button is highlighted, which allows administrators to change which page layout is shown to each user profile.
Edit Page Layout Assignments by Profile — This screen shows how to assign page layouts to different user profiles, such as Standard User and Administrator, each with a dropdown menu to select the appropriate layout. A red arrow highlights the Standard User row, indicating where to make a layout selection, which is useful for controlling what fields and sections different users see on a record.

Deleting a role or profile

⚠️ These deletions are permanent. Go to System Settings > Permissions to delete an unused role or profile.

User Profiles List with Management Actions — This shows a table of user profiles with their assigned user counts and available actions including Edit, Delete, Clone, and Assign. The Delete button is highlighted on one row, illustrating how administrators can manage or remove profiles within Insightly CRM.
Delete Profile Confirmation Dialog Box — A popup dialog asks the user to confirm whether they want to delete a profile, with OK and Cancel buttons. This confirmation step helps prevent accidental deletion of a profile in Insightly CRM.

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