In this guide, we'll walk you through the differences between roles and permissions, how to assign permissions, and give an example of how permissions work in practice.
Roles vs. Permissions – What’s the Difference?
Understanding the difference between roles and permissions is key to setting up your team for success:
Roles define a user's access to Waybook's overall settings and management capabilities.
Permissions determine what specific Subjects, Documents, and Learning Paths a user can read, edit, or publish.
By combining roles with content-specific permissions, you can tailor access to fit your organization's structure and workflow.
Understanding User Roles
Each team member in Waybook is assigned a role that dictates their level of control over content and team management:
Action | Admin | Manager | Author | Contributor | Reader |
View Subjects, Documents & Learning Paths | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Edit Documents | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
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Create new Subjects and Learning Paths | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
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Invite others to access your Waybook | ✔️ | ✔️ |
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View Reports* | ✔️ | ✔️ |
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Update billing information | ✔️ |
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*Managers will only be able to review reports for Subjects, Documents and Learning Paths they have access to in your Waybook.
Assigning Permissions
Waybook allows you to set different levels of permissions for Subjects, Documents and Learning Paths:
Publish – Full control (can publish, edit, and read content).
Edit – Can make changes but cannot publish or change settings.
Read – Can only view the content.
Learn more about how you can manage completion requirements here.
No Access – This content will be hidden except for admins.
✨ Waybook allows you to fully customize your team's access to content and you can learn more about permissions overrides here.
How Permissions Work in Practice
Let’s say you are adding a new team member to the Marketing department. They should have Contributor role, meaning they can create and edit Documents. Additionally, they should:
Only read company policies – Assign them Read permission for the Company Policies Subject.
Edit documents within the Marketing subject – Grant Edit permission for the Marketing Subject.
View the onboarding learning path but not edit it – Ensure they have Read access to the onboarding Learning Path.
By setting up these permissions correctly, the new team member will have the ability to contribute effectively to marketing documents while ensuring compliance with company policies and structured onboarding.
✨ Learn more about how you can manage your team's permissions at scale using Member Groups.
If you have any questions about roles and permissions or would like support configuring your own team's setup, reach out to your account manager or get in touch with the Waybook support team.