In this guide, we'll walk you through the differences between member types and permissions, how to assign permissions, and give an example of how permissions work in practice.
Member Types vs. Permissions - What's the Difference?
Understanding the difference between member types and permissions is key to setting up your team for success:
Member Types define a user's role-level capabilities - things like managing users, viewing reports, and creating new Categories and Subjects.
Permissions determine what specific content (Subjects, Documents, and Learning Paths) a user can view, edit, or publish.
By combining member types with content-specific permissions, you can tailor access to fit your organization's structure and workflow.
Understanding Member Types
Each team member in Waybook is assigned a member type that dictates their level of control over settings and team management. The table below shows what each member type can do at the role level:
Capability | Admin | Manager | Author | Contributor | Reader |
View Subjects, Documents & Learning Paths | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Edit Documents | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
|
Create new Documents | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
|
Create new Subjects & Learning Paths | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
|
|
Manage users* | ✔️ | ✔️ |
|
|
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View Reports** | ✔️ | ✔️ |
|
|
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Update billing information | ✔️ |
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|
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*Admins can manage all users across your Waybook. Managers can invite, edit, and manage users within the groups they are set to manage.
**Admins can view all reports. Managers can view report breakdowns and Progress settings for content they have Edit access to or above.
What about viewing, editing, and publishing content?
Access to Subjects, Documents, and Learning Paths is controlled by permissions, not member type. This means a Manager, Author, Contributor, or Reader will only see and interact with content based on the permissions assigned to them. Admins are the exception - they have full access to all content regardless of permissions.
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.
These permission levels apply the same way regardless of member type. For example, a Manager with Read access to a Subject can only view that content - they cannot edit it. A Contributor with Edit access to a Subject can make changes to documents within it.
✨ 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 type, meaning they can edit Documents based on their permissions. 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 member types 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.