Roles & permissions¶

Roles decide what each person can do in your workspace. As an admin, you set this from one place: the User Roles section in company settings, where you turn each capability on or off per role.

Managing roles and permissions is an admin-only task. People without admin rights can use the app under their assigned role, but they can't see or change these settings.

Overview¶

A role is a named group (like 3PL Admin or Brand Admin). A permission is a single thing a role is allowed to do, grouped by the module it belongs to (for example, an action under Tasks or WMS). User Roles shows one role's permissions at a time, with a side-by-side view for comparing roles.

From here you can:

• See every built-in role and its current permissions.
• Turn an individual permission on or off for a role.
• Allow or deny every permission in a module at once.

Screenshot: The User Roles permission matrix in company settings. (pending capture)

Understand the built-in roles¶

Packr ships with a standard set of roles that cover both 3PL and brand sides. In User Roles, the roles appear in this order:

• 3PL Admin (3PLAdmin) — full operator-side admin. Its permissions are fixed and cannot be edited; selecting it shows them read-only behind an explanatory banner.
• 3PL Manager (3PLManager) — operator role with management-level rights.
• 3PL Employee (3PLEmployee) — day-to-day operator role.
• Brand Admin (BrandAdmin) — admin for a brand's own users and data.
• Brand Manager (BrandManager) — brand role with management-level rights.
• Brand Employee (BrandEmployee) — day-to-day brand role.

There is also a platform staff role, packrAdmin, used by Packr for cross-workspace administration. You won't manage packrAdmin from User Roles.

Look up what a role can do¶

The User Roles section on the company settings page opens on one role at a time, which answers the question most people bring to it: "what can a Brand Manager do?"

1. Go to company settings and find User Roles.
2. Select a role from the row of role chips (for example, 3PL Manager).
3. Its permissions are listed in plain English, grouped into modules. Each module header shows how many are allowed — for example 12 of 18 allowed — and expands to list every permission with a short description and an on/off switch.

Use Search permissions… to find a permission by name, description, or module, and Expand all / Collapse all to open or close every module at once. Permissions that nothing in the app currently checks are kept in a collapsed Legacy / unrecognized group at the bottom, so existing grants aren't lost.

Compare all roles¶

To see every role side by side, select Compare all roles. Roles run across the top and permissions run down the left under the Action header, grouped by module, with a checkbox where each role meets each permission; an empty cell means that permission doesn't apply to that role. The same search and module collapsing work here. Select Back to one role to return.

Change what a role can do¶

Editing permissions is an admin-only task.

1. In User Roles, select the role you want to change.
2. Find the permission, then turn its switch on to grant it or off to remove it. It saves immediately.
3. To change a whole module at once, open it and select Allow all or Deny all. While a search is narrowing the list, these become Allow all shown and Deny all shown and only change the permissions you can see.

You can also tick or clear a checkbox in Compare all roles.

Make a role view-only on orders or purchase orders¶

Two permissions under the Warehouse module decide whether a role can change orders and purchase orders, not just see them:

• Edit orders — create orders and change them: address, customer, line items, holds, status (including Mark urgent), carrier, reprocessing, and the order list's bulk actions.
• Edit purchase orders — create inbound shipments (purchase orders) and change their expected arrival date and line items.

Both are on for every role to start with. Turn one off and that role sees orders or purchase orders read-only: the edit controls, Create options, and bulk actions are hidden, and Pax won't make those changes for them either. Cancelling is a separate permission (Cancel orders, Cancel purchase orders). The pickup permissions, Schedule pickups and Edit pickups, are also listed under Warehouse.

Screenshot: A role's permissions in User Roles. (pending capture)

Tips¶

• Roles control capabilities; brand assignment controls which brands a person sees. To assign people to brands, see Members & invites.
• Use the smallest role that still lets someone do their job — it's easier to add a permission later than to clean up over-broad access.
• The 3PL Admin role is your safety net: because it can't be edited, your workspace always keeps at least one fully capable admin role.

Common questions¶

What roles are available? The built-in roles are 3PL Admin, 3PL Manager, 3PL Employee, Brand Admin, Brand Manager, and Brand Employee. There's also a Packr platform staff role, packrAdmin, that you don't manage from User Roles.

How do I change what someone can do? Open User Roles in company settings, select the person's role, find the permission, and turn its switch on or off. The change saves immediately for everyone with that role.

Can I create a custom role? No — User Roles edits the built-in roles only. Choose the closest built-in role and adjust its permissions.

What's the difference between a role and a permission? A role is a named group of people (like Brand Manager). A permission is a single capability, grouped by module, that a role is or isn't allowed to do. In Compare all roles, roles are the columns and permissions are the rows.

Why can't I edit the 3PL Admin role? The 3PL Admin role is intentionally read-only so your workspace always keeps a fully capable admin role. Adjust other roles instead.

Where do I manage roles? In company settings, under the User Roles section. Only admins can see and change these settings.

Related¶

• Members & invites
• Access Controls overview
• Workspace settings