Understand Users and Contacts

As you work with your community and communications accounts, it's beneficial to have a good understanding of the differences between Users and Contacts within these accounts.

In your Thrive Communications account, Users:

• are Admins in your account who can access and manage your account via the Admin interface.
• are listed on the Settings > Users > Manage page.

In your Thrive Communications account, Contacts:

• are the members/users in your community site whose records have been synced over into your Thrive Communications account.
• could be members of your organization.
• are listed on one of the status-based list pages.

See Manage Contacts (Thrive Communications) to learn more.

Manage your User accounts

The Users list page is where you create and manage your User accounts. On this page, you can perform a variety of administrative actions, such as:

• update a User's account details (e.g., email address and time zone),
• give a User a new password, and
• assign account permissions to a User.

TIP: There's no limit to the number of User records you can create in your account, so we recommend creating one record for each of your staff members. This prevents the "sharing" of accounts between staff members, thereby making it easier to determine who did what in your account.

To manage your User accounts:

1. Access the Admin interface and click the Communications tab above the search field.
2. Navigate to Settings > Users > Manage.

The Users list page opens.

TIP: On list pages, click a column header to sort on that column; click again to reverse the sort order. Click the columns count below the list to add and remove columns in the current view.

Create a User account

1. Click the plus sign to the right of the page title.
2. In the dialog:

• Provide the User's personal details in the required fields (email address, first and last names, etc.) as well as any optional fields. This information describes the User and identifies any actions they perform.
• Specify the User's login credentials (username and password).

NOTE: A Username cannot be changed, so be sure to specify the name you want. Passwords can be changed; they must be at least 12 characters and contain at least one number or one symbol.

• Assign the necessary permissions. These settings control which tools and features the individual can access and use. (Permissions can be changed later.) Refer to User permissions, below, to learn about permissions and how to set them.

TIP: You may want to assign permissions to areas where this new User will serve as a backup to a primary user. For example, if Sally manages your Smart Campaigns, you may want Bruce to also have permission so that he can be Sally's backup if she's on vacation or leaves the organization.

• Click Save to create the account and add the User record to the list.

Manage User records

You must select a User record in order to enable the Edit and Delete buttons above the list; then you can manage the selected User record.

TIP: In addition to the buttons being enabled, the Preview Panel opens. Refer to Preview Panel options, below, to learn more.

Edit a User account

• Click Edit to make changes to the User's personal details, give them a new password, and/or change their permissions.

NOTE: The Username field does not display because you cannot change a Username.

Delete a User account

When someone leaves your organization, you should remove the associated User account to prevent unauthorized access.

• Click Delete, followed by Yes in the confirmation popup, to permanently remove the account.

Preview Panel options

Select a User record to open its Preview Panel. Click the record again to deselect it and close the panel.

In the Preview Panel, you can:

• Click a dashed underline to edit that User detail.
• Click the Timezone dropdown to set the appropriate time zone for the User.

NOTE: Time zones are managed per User in Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional; they cannot be managed for the entire account.

• View Logins and Messages Created counts for the User.

NOTE: The Cancel and Save buttons appear at the bottom of the panel only if you make changes in the panel.

Search User accounts

At the top right, you can use the search feature to find specific User records.

1. Click the magnifying glass icon to expand a search field.
2. Enter alphanumeric and/or special characters to query the User Name, Email Address, Last Name, and First Name fields of all records.

The list automatically updates with each typed character and displays all records (visible and hidden) that contain a match. Click the X to clear the search field to restore the original list.

Export the list of Users

Click the down arrow icon at the top right to export your list of User records to a CSV file that contains each User's:

• ID
• User name
• Email address
• First name
• Last name
• Date of last login
• Job title
• Admin who created each account
• Date of last account update
• Admin who modified it

User permissions

User permissions are how Admins control who can do what in the organization's account.

Admins assign permissions, per User, in the Permissions section when:

• creating a User account via the Create User dialog and
• editing a User account via the Edit User dialog.

NOTE: If you change a User's permissions, the User might have to log out and back in for the change to be reflected in their account. If that doesn't resolve the issue, have the User clear their browser cache. If neither of these steps resolves the issue, it may be browser related. Google Chrome is the preferred browser and provides the best user experience.

Permissions descriptions

Permissions are listed in alphabetical order.

Related articles

• User Login History (Thrive Communications)