Understanding User Types And Permissions
Last updated: October 29, 2026
Learn about the user types and what permissions they have. Knowing these roles helps you effectively manage your projects and collaborate smoothly within your organization.
Each organization has different agreements about the number of roles and type of permissions - reach out to your Account Director or the Outset team at support@outset.ai if you have any questions!
User Types And Permissions Explained
Your role determines what you can do, and your workspace access determines which projects and studies you can see. Managers, Users, PWDR Users, and Observers are limited to their assigned workspaces.
Admin: Admins have the highest level of access. They can create and manage projects, studies, and workspaces; invite users; assign roles, including Admin; and approve study review requests.
Admins can view the organization subscription and usage. Non-research admins also have access to this page.
Admins also have access to all workspaces by default.
Manager: Managers can create and manage projects and studies in their assigned workspaces, create new workspaces, and invite users. They can manage workspace access for Users, PWDR Users, and Observers within workspaces they belong to, and change those members’ roles to User or Observer. They cannot change Admin or Manager roles or approve study review requests.
User: Users can create and manage projects and studies, view reports and insights, use Chat With Your Data and Explore, and download transcripts within their assigned workspaces. Publishing may require admin approval based on the organization’s study approval settings or budget and answered question limits. Users cannot manage user permissions or workspaces.
PWDR: People who do research (shown as PWDR User) can create and manage studies and analyze results within their assigned workspaces. When PWDR study approval is enabled, an Admin or non-research admin must review all their studies or their first study before publishing, depending on the organization’s settings. This role suits team members who conduct research as part of their work, such as designers, PMs, marketers, and engineers. Read more at PWDR - Overview of the Role and Associated Permission Controls.
Observer: Observers can view projects, studies, guides, reports, and insights, download transcripts, and use Chat With Your Data and Explore within their assigned workspaces. For research with human participants, they cannot create or edit projects or studies, generate or edit reports or highlight reels, or delete or archive interviews.
Special User Type: Non-Research Admin
The non-research admin role is for team members who manage the organization without conducting research. They can manage users, workspaces, billing, and organization settings across all workspaces, and review study guides to approve study review requests. They cannot create or edit studies or access participant interviews, transcripts, reports, or answers.
This role may appear as PWDR Admin in the member list and is not available in the standard role dropdown. Contact support@outset.ai to set it up.
Knowing these roles can greatly improve your team's collaboration and productivity. If you have specific questions or need assistance setting up roles, please reach out.
Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please reach out to our team at support@outset.ai or via our in-website chat.