Custom roles are reusable sets of permissions that you can assign to teammates in your Intercom workspace. They make it simple to update permissions for a large group of people all at once.
Note: Custom roles are only available on certain Intercom plans. See our plans and pricing here.
Create a new custom role
To create a new role, go to Settings > General > Teams & roles, switch to the roles tab and click ‘New role’:
Enter a name and description for your role:
Tip: The description should be clear for anyone using this role, so they can see exactly what it allows teammates to do in Intercom.
Next, select the permissions that people with this role will have:
Then save your new role:
Assigning roles to your teammates
To assign a role to a teammate, go to Settings > General > Teammates and click “Edit” on the teammate whose role you want to change:
To assign a role to many teammates, check the box next to their names, and click “Edit permissions”:
From here you can set permissions manually by switching them on or off in the list, or choose one of your custom roles from the dropdown on the right:
Then save your changes:
Tip: To find a specific teammate, or see all teammates with a certain role, use the dropdown or search box above the list:
Important: For your teammates to access the Inbox, they must have an Inbox seat.
Editing or deleting a custom role
To edit a custom role, go to Settings > General > Teams & roles, switch to the roles tab and click the gear icon on the role you’d like to edit:
Important: You cannot edit your own role, or your own permissions. This is a security measure to ensure every workspace has at least one teammate with admin permissions.
You can then adjust the permissions assigned to this role:
Pro tip: If you make major changes to the permissions, make sure you update the description for the role so it’s clear to your other teammates.
Click ‘Apply changes’, and confirm the new permissions:
These permissions will immediately apply to all teammates with the selected role.
Role suggestions
If you're unsure where to start, check out these example roles and the permissions for each one. 👍
Admin
You should always have at least one "Admin" on your team with full access to every available permission. They'll be responsible for controlling the permissions the rest of the team has access to.
Super user
Right below your "Admin" you can have "Super users" with full access to all of Intercom except billing, and permissions. This is perfect for keeping things secure, while allowing certain teammates to manage most of your Intercom workspace. Includes permission to:
Install apps.
Manage articles in your Help Center.
Change Messenger, team & outbound settings.
Send messages in bulk.
Delete replies and notes from conversations.
Export lead, user and company data.
Manager
Manager level permissions are for those who lead your sales and support teams in Intercom, but don't need to modify your workspace or Messenger settings.
Includes permission to:
Manage workspace data and workload management.
Manage Operator.
Bulk message visitors, leads and users.
Reassign conversations.
Delete replies and notes from conversations.
Support/Sales Individual contributor
Individual contributors generally have a limited set of permissions that allow them to work in the Inbox, and not much else. This can be limited to a single permission:
Can reassign conversations.
Or you could allow access to the Help Center, or Operator for more proactive sales/support.
Teammates with specific needs
Outside of those roles listed above, you may have people on your team who need access to other specific areas of Intercom. For example:
Marketing team: Access to outbound messages, bots and your Help Center.
Developers: Access to the developer hub, and Messenger settings.
Accounting: Access to your billing settings.
What’s next?
Now that you have custom roles, invite your team to Intercom.