Manage Profiles

All users of Business Central are assigned a profile that reflects their business role, the department they work in, or another categorization. Profiles allow administrators to define and manage centrally what different user types can see and do in the user interface so they can perform their business tasks efficiently.

Note

The typical business use of a profile is a role. A profile is therefore named Profile (Role) in the UI.

As an administrator, you create and manage profiles on the Profiles (Roles) page. Each profile has a card where you manage various settings for the related role, such as the role name, the user settings, and which Role Center the profile uses. For more information about user settings and Role Centers, see Change Basic Settings.

Before you can administrate users' profiles, the users must be created and added, through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Then you can assign permissions to each user or user group to define which features they are allowed to view and/or edit. For more information, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups.

Page Customization

You can customize page layouts for a profile so that all users assigned the profile will see the customized pages. As an administrator, you customize pages by using the same functionality as users do when they personalize. For more information, see Customize Pages for Profiles.

To create a profile

If you cannot copy an existing profile, you can create a new one manually.

  1. Choose the Search for Page or Report icon, enter Profiles (Roles), and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Profiles (Roles) page, choose the New action.
  3. Fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.

To copy a profile

To save time, you can create a new profile by copying an existing one. Copy one that has similar settings to the one you want to create.

Note

When you copy a profile, all the involved page customizations are copied as well, both the user-created and those derived from extensions.

  1. On the Profiles (Roles) page, select the line for the profile that you want to copy, and then choose the Copy Profile action.
  2. Fill in the Profile ID and Display Name fields, and then choose the OK button.
  3. On the Profiles (Roles) page, open the newly created profile card, and then edit other fields as necessary.

To edit a profile

You can edit a profile by changing the fields on the Profile (Role) page. However, the changes will not be visible to user assigned the profile until they sign out and back in.

Caution

Do not rename a profile while users assigned the profile are signed in as users may experience that the product freezes and must be restarted.

To assign a profile to a user

Users can assign themselves a role (representing a profile) by choosing the Role field on the My Settings page. As an administrator, you can do the same through the Profiles (Roles) page.

  1. On the Profiles (Roles) page, select the profile that you want to assign, and then choose the User Personalization List action.
  2. On the User Personalizations page, select the user that you want to assign the profile to, and then choose the Edit action.
  3. In the Profile ID field, select the relevant profile.
Note

If you assign another profile to a user, any personalizations made by the user with the previous profile are preserved.

To define user settings for a profile

On the My Settings page, users can define basic behavior of their account, such as the Role Center, the language, and which notifications they get. For more information, see Change Basic Settings.

As an administrator, you can define these setting for a profile and thereby apply the settings to all users of the related role.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Profiles (Roles), and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the line for the profile that you want to change user settings for, choose the Navigate action, and then choose the User Personalizations action.
  3. On the User Personalizations page, open the card for the user whose settings you want to change.
  4. On the User Personalization Card page, edit the fields as necessary.

To activate a profile

When a profile is created, you can select different check boxes that define if, where, and how the profile and its information is made available to users.

  • On the Profile (Role) page, select the following check boxes:
    • Enabled to specify if the related role is visible in the Available Roles page for users to choose from.
    • Use as default profile to specify the profile that applies to users who are not assigned a specific role.
    • Disable personalization to specify if users of the related role can personalize their workspace.
    • Show in Role Explorer to specify if actions to business features included in the profile are shown in the extended view of the role explorer, a feature overview. For more information, see Finding Pages with the Role Explorer.

To export profiles

You can export profiles from Business Central, for example to reuse them in another tenant. The profiles are exported to a zip file containing .al files that can be reused to develop extensions. For more information, see Using the Client to Create Profiles and Page Customizations.

  • On the Profiles (Roles) page, choose the Export Profiles action.

A zip file with the .al files for all profiles is exported.

To import profiles

You can import profiles that have been exported from Business Central. The steps are more or less the opposite of the steps to export profiles. For more information, see To export profiles.

  1. On the Profiles (Roles) page, choose the Import Profiles action.

  2. Follow the steps on the Import Profiles wizard.

    If you only want to import selected profiles, use the Selected check box to indicate which to import.

  3. Choose the Import selected button.

A zip file with .al files for the selected profiles is imported.

To delete a profile

You can delete a profile by choosing the Delete action on the Profiles (Roles) page. However, the following limitations apply:

  • You cannot delete a profile that is assigned to a user or a user group.
  • You cannot delete profiles that originate from extensions. The extension must first be uninstalled.
  • You can only delete one profile at a time.

To delete all personalizations made by a user

You can delete all changes that a user has made to pages that make up their workspace. This may be useful, for example, if an employee has changed role and no longer needs the personalizations. Deleting users' personalizations changes the page layout back to what is defined by the profile.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter User Personalizations, and then choose the related link.

    The User Personalizations page lists all users who have made personalizations.

  2. Open the card for a user whose personalizations you want to delete.

  3. On the User Personalization Card page, choose the Clear Personalized Pages action, and then accept the message that appears.

The user will see the changes the next time they sign in.

You can also delete all page customizations for a profile. For more information, see To delete all customizations for a profile.

To delete personalizations for specific pages

You can delete personalizations that one or more users have made to specific pages that make up their workspace. This may be useful, for example, if a changed business process means that a personalization must no longer be used by users. Deleting users' personalizations changes the page layout back to what is defined by the profile.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter User Page Personalizations, and then choose the related link.

    The User Page Personalizations page lists all the pages that have been personalized and the user that they belong to.

    Note

    A check mark in the Legacy Personalization field indicates that the personalization was done in an older version of Business Central, which handled personalization differently. Users who try to personalize these pages are locked from doing so unless they choose to unlock the page. For more information, see Why a Page is Locked from Personalizing.

  2. Select the line for the page personalization that you want to delete, and then choose the Delete action.

The user will see the changes the next time they sign-in.

You can also delete individual page customizations for a profile. For more information, see To delete customization for specific pages for a profile.

Managing user sessions

As the administrator of Business Central online, you can manage user sessions in the administration center. For more information, see Managing Sessions in the administration content.

For Business Central on-premises, you can manage sessions using SQL Server Management Studio, for example. for more information, see SQL Server technical documentation.

See Also

Assign Permissions to Users and Groups
Customize Pages for Profiles
Personalize Your Workspace