---
title: "Custom portal roles"
slug: "custom-portal-roles"
description: "Create custom portal roles to tailor user permissions in your knowledge base, ensuring team members have the access they need without unnecessary privileges."
updated: 2026-06-20T07:18:10Z
published: 2026-06-20T07:18:10Z
canonical: "docs.document360.com/custom-portal-roles"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.document360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom portal roles

Custom portal roles let you define exactly which administrative permissions a user has in the knowledge base portal. Use them when the default roles — Owner, Admin, Contributor, and Reviewer — do not match your team's requirements.

---

## When to create a custom portal role

- A Contributor needs access to a specific feature (such as event notifications) without gaining full Admin access.
- You want to create a read-only admin role that can view settings but cannot change them.
- Different team members need different subsets of portal permissions that don't map to any default role.

---

## Before you begin

You must have the **Owner** or **Admin** portal role.

---

## How to create a custom portal role

1. Navigate to **Settings** () > **Users and security** in the left navigation bar in the knowledge base portal.
2. In the left navigation pane, navigate to **Roles and permissions**.
3. Click the **New portal role** button at the top right of the **Portal role** tab.

The **Create portal role** panel opens.
4. Enter a name for the new role and add a description.
5. From the list of features, select the **View** and **Update** checkboxes for the desired features based on your requirements.
6. Click **Create role**.

![Create portal role panel showing the list of features with View and Update checkboxes.](https://cdn.document360.io/860f9f88-412e-4570-8222-d5bf2f4b7dd1/Images/Documentation/2_Screenshot-Create_portal_role.png)

---

## Portal role permissions reference

Each feature has two permission levels: **View** and **Update**.

| Feature | What it allows |
| --- | --- |
| **Project settings** | Access and modify overall project settings, including basic configurations and preferences |
| **Team auditing** | Monitor and manage team activities, track events and changes within the project |
| **Event notifications** | Set up and manage notifications about project activities; configure notification channels and email domains |
| **API tokens** | Access and manage API tokens for integrating with external systems and automating tasks |
| **Extensions** | Manage extension services that enhance knowledge base site functionality |
| **Backup & restore** | Set up and manage backup and restoration processes |
| **Site domain** | Manage the custom domain for the knowledge base site |
| **Custom CSS & JavaScript** | Access and manage custom CSS and JavaScript scripts to customize appearance and functionality |
| **Integrations** | Access and manage integrations that connect the project with other tools and services |
| **Cookie consent** | Access and update the cookie consent policy |
| **Announcements** | Manage smart bars and announcements on the knowledge base site |
| **Ticket deflector** | Manage ticket deflectors that direct users to relevant content before they submit support tickets |
| **Knowledge base widget** | Set up, access, and manage knowledge base assistants |
| **Roles, accounts & groups** | Access and manage users, readers, and groups, along with their roles |
| **Site visibility** | Modify reader access settings (Public, Private, or Mixed) |
| **IP restrictions** | Manage which IP addresses can access the knowledge base site |
| **Enterprise SSO** | Access and manage SSO and JWT configurations |
| **Billing & invoice** | Access and manage billing services, including invoices and subscriptions |

---

## Example: Providing view-only access to specific categories

This example shows how to give a user view-only access to specific categories in the portal without giving them editing or publishing permissions.

**Create a custom content role**

1. Navigate to **Settings** () > **Users and security** in the left navigation bar in the knowledge base portal.
2. In the left navigation pane, navigate to **Roles and permissions**.
3. Go to the **Content role** tab and click **New content role**.
4. Enter a name and description for the custom content role.
5. Check the **View** option for **Categories** only.
6. Click **Create role**.

**Assign the custom content role to the user**

1. Navigate to **Settings** () > **Users and security** in the left navigation bar in the knowledge base portal.
2. In the left navigation pane, navigate to **Users and groups**.
3. Click **Add** > **User**. The **New user** dialog opens.
4. Enter the user's email and select a project role.
5. In the **Content role & access** section, select the custom content role you created.
6. In **Content access**, select **Category** and choose the specific categories you want to grant view-only access to.
7. Click **Create user**.

---

## Best practices

- Give custom roles descriptive names that reflect what they are for — for example, "Support Lead — Announcements Only" rather than "Custom Role 1".
- Grant the minimum set of permissions needed. Add more permissions only when the user needs them.
- Use **View** without **Update** when you want a user to be aware of a setting without being able to change it.
- Review custom roles periodically to ensure they still reflect your team's current structure.