Permissions in People

You can grant different permissions to allow pastors, administrators, staff, and key volunteers to view, edit, or customize the information in People.

Tip

Planning Center People is designed for staff use. If you're looking for a way for your congregation to share their information and connect with each other, use the directory!

Share these articles with people based on their roles in your church to help them get the most out of People:

• Introduction for administrators 

• Introduction for staff members 

The tables below cover the basic overall permissions in People. Workflows and background checks have specific permissions.

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✓ Available by default

* Available depending on settings

People

	Manager	Editor	Viewer
View information	✓	✓	✓
Add people	✓	✓
Edit campus	✓	✓
Edit people (except organization administrators)	✓	✓
Merge people	✓
Change permissions in People	✓
Send emails	✓	✓	✓
View sent messages on a profile	✓	✓	✓
View message history under lists	✓	*	*
Manage email templates	✓
Set up, manage, and invite people to the directory	✓
Create note categories	✓
Manage custom fields	✓	*	*
Create custom reports	✓
Import CSV	✓
Export CSV	✓	*	*
Promote grades	✓

Important

Only an organization administrator can delete profiles and give background check access to certain permission levels or people.

Lists

	Manager	Editor	Viewer
Create new lists	✓	✓	✓
Access assigned lists	✓	✓	✓
Edit and delete lists	*	*
Manage categories	✓
Send a text message	✓	*	*
Send emails	✓	✓	*

Forms

	Manager	Editor	Viewer
View submissions	✓	*	*
Add, edit, or delete fields	✓	*	*
Create	✓	*	*
Manage settings	✓

Dashboard

	Manager	Editor	Viewer
View assigned notes	✓	✓	✓
Create notes	*	*	*
Delete notes	*	*	*
Manage category	*
Create and manage a dashboard	✓	✓	✓
Give others View or Manage permissions to their dashboard	✓	✓	✓

Contact information permissions

Giving people access to Planning Center depends on their role at your church. Staff and background-checked leaders may have enough trust to access people's information, whether to edit or view, but people outside of that trusted circle should be given lower permissions.

This table outlines who can access people's contact information based on their permissions in another product. 

	Can edit	Can view	No access
Account settings	Organization administrators (in all products except Giving)		Billing managers
Calendar	People editor	People viewer	Any event, room, or resource permission
Check-Ins	Editor	Viewer	Headcounter
Giving	Administrator Bookkeeper Counter		Reviewer
Groups	Administrator	Group type manager Leader (everyone in their group)  Member (everyone in their group who has made info visible)	Members under the age of 13
People	Manager Editor	Viewer
Publishing		Administrators
Registrations	Administrator Manager (only attendees in signup)
Services	Administrator Editor (based on settings) Scheduler (based on settings)	Viewer (based on settings)	Scheduled viewer

Organization administrator-only tasks

Organization administrators have access to specific parts of Planning Center that no other permission can access, so please familiarize yourself with them as early as possible.

Product	Task
People	Delete profiles (not recommended) Set an expiration date for background checks  Deactivate two-step verification for a profile   Change a person's login method  Purchase texting credits  Enable the directory on Church Center
Services	Choose default permission settings  Update default settings for the Lyrics & chords editor  Create shared email templates  Add/remove Music Stand  Deactivate two-step verification for a profile

Add or edit permissions

Follow the steps below to edit a person's permission level, as well as manage any additional permissions that may apply to their permission level.

1. Choose the People page from the top navigation.

2. Search or scroll to find the person's name of the person for whom you want to edit permissions.

3. On their profile page, select the Actions button to the right of the person's name and profile photo.

4. Choose Manage permissions from the dropdown.

5. In the Permission level dropdown, select which level of access to give this person and any additional permissions.

6. Select the Update button at the bottom of the window to save your changes.

Remove permissions

To remove permissions:

1. Choose the People page from the top navigation.

2. Search or scroll to find the person's name for whom you want to remove permissions.

3. On their profile page, select the Actions button to the right of the person's name and profile photo.

4. Choose Manage permissions from the dropdown.

5. In the Permission level dropdown, choose No access.

6. Select the Update button at the bottom of the window.

Once a person's permissions are removed, they will encounter an error page the next time they try to log in to People.

When is someone notified of permission changes?

When you change someone's permissions in Planning Center, they may receive a notification, depending on the type of change.

Add a new person

When someone who has never logged into your organization is granted access to Planning Center, they receive an email notification.

The email welcomes them and lists all of the products they've been given access to, their permission levels in those products, and explains how to log in.

Upgrade an existing person's permissions

When someone already in Planning Center has their permission levels upgraded, they receive an email notification.

The email tells them that their access level has changed, lists all of the products they have access to and their permission levels in those products, and highlights which permission levels were upgraded.

Remove or downgrade an existing person's permissions

When an existing person's permission levels or product access are removed or downgraded, they don't receive an email notification unless any change is made to an organization administrator, then all other organization administrators are notified.

If a person's permissions are upgraded in one product and downgraded in another, their notification email will show their new downgraded permission in the second product. However, there will be no indication that it was changed.