Understand roles and permissions
Control who can do what with three distinct account types.
Give your team the access they need without exposing settings to everyone. Quackback uses three account types to separate customers from teammates, and teammates from workspace owners.
Overview
Every person who interacts with your Quackback workspace has one of three roles:
Role | Who they are | How they get access |
|---|---|---|
Portal User | Your customers and end users | Sign up through the public portal |
Member | Your teammates who manage feedback | |
Admin | Workspace owners with full control |
Note: Team members (Members and Admins) can also use the public portal like regular Portal Users. They don't need a separate account.
Permission matrix
This table covers every capability in Quackback, grouped by category.
Feedback
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Submit feedback | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Vote on posts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Comment on posts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Edit own posts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Delete own posts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Admin feedback management
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
View feedback inbox | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Change post statuses | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Merge duplicate posts | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Delete any post | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Assign post owner | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Add and remove tags | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Add posts to roadmap | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Pin official responses | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Post private comments | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Add proxy votes | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Portal
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
View public portal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
View public roadmap | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
View changelog | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Admin dashboard
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Access admin panel | — | ✓ | ✓ |
View analytics | — | ✓ | ✓ |
View portal users list | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Remove portal users | — | — | ✓ |
Settings
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Manage boards | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Manage statuses and tags | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Branding and customization | — | — | ✓ |
Portal authentication | — | — | ✓ |
Integrations | — | — | ✓ |
Team management | — | — | ✓ |
Security settings | — | — | ✓ |
API keys | — | — | ✓ |
Import and export data | — | — | ✓ |
Content
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Create changelog entries | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Manage roadmaps | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Portal Users
Portal Users are your customers. They interact with Quackback through the public-facing feedback portal, not the admin dashboard.
How they sign up: Portal Users create an account on your portal using the authentication methods you configure -- email OTP, OAuth, or SSO.
What they can do:
- Submit feedback and bug reports
- Vote on posts they care about
- Comment on any post
- Edit and delete their own posts
- Browse the public roadmap and changelog
Tip: Portal Users are unlimited. Encourage your entire user base to sign up and submit feedback.
Team Members
Members are your teammates. They have everything Portal Users have, plus access to the admin dashboard where they triage and manage feedback.
How they join: An admin invites them by email. They receive a link to join the workspace.
What they can do beyond Portal Users:
- Access the admin dashboard and feedback inbox
- Change post statuses, merge duplicates, and assign owners
- Add tags and manage roadmap items
- Post private internal comments
- Create changelog entries
- Manage boards, statuses, and tags
Members cannot change workspace settings, manage integrations, or invite other team members.
Admins
Admins have unrestricted access to everything in the workspace. They're the only ones who can configure settings that affect the entire workspace.
Capabilities exclusive to Admins:
- Branding and portal customization
- Portal authentication configuration
- Integration setup and management
- Team management -- invite, promote, demote, remove
- Security settings
- API key management
- Data import and export
- Removing portal users
Warning: Every workspace needs at least one Admin. You cannot remove or demote the last Admin.
Change roles
Promote or demote team members at any time from the team settings.
- Go to Admin → Settings → Team Members
- Find the member in the list
- Click the ... menu on their row
- Select Make admin or Make member
Changes take effect immediately. Demoted Admins lose access to all admin-only settings but keep their dashboard access as a Member.
Note: Changing a role does not affect the member's existing comments, posts, or activity history.
To convert a team member back to a Portal User, remove them from the team entirely. They keep their portal account and can still submit feedback.
Next steps
- Manage your team -- Invite members and assign roles
- Configure team security -- Control sign-in methods
- Core Concepts -- Review how roles fit into the bigger picture
Was this helpful?
Your feedback shapes what we write next.