Team Roles and Permissions Explained

Understand team roles and permissions in BreezeDoc. This guide covers the four team roles (Owner, Sender, Editor, Viewer), permission differences, role assignment, and best practices for managing team access to documents and templates.

Prerequisites

• Plan: Agency plan ($49/month) required for team collaboration
• Account: Active BreezeDoc account
• Team: Team created and configured (if inviting members)
• Access: Team Owner role to manage member roles

What are Team Roles?

Team roles control what team members can do with documents and templates in your team workspace. BreezeDoc uses a role-based access control system with four distinct roles, each with specific permissions. Roles determine:

• Document Creation – Who can create and upload documents
• Editing Rights – Who can modify documents and add fields
• Sending Permissions – Who can send documents to recipients
• View Access – Who can view documents and activity logs
• Deletion Rights – Who can delete documents
• Template Management – Who can create and manage templates

Plan Requirement

Team collaboration and roles are available exclusively on the Agency plan:

• Free Plan: ❌ No team collaboration
• Pro Plan ($19/month): ❌ No team collaboration
• Agency Plan ($49/month): ✅ Team collaboration with up to 10 members

The Four Team Roles

Owner

The highest level role with complete control over the team and all its resources. There can be multiple Owners in a team.

Who is the Owner:

• The person who created the team is automatically assigned the Owner role
• Owners can assign other team members as Owners
• Owner is the billing contact for the team's Agency plan

Owner Permissions:

• ✅ Upload documents – Create new documents from PDFs or templates
• ✅ Edit documents – Add fields, modify content, change recipients
• ✅ Send documents – Send documents to recipients for signing
• ✅ View documents – Access all team documents and activity
• ✅ Download documents – Download completed documents as PDFs
• ✅ Clone documents – Duplicate documents as templates
• ✅ Delete documents – Permanently remove documents
• ✅ Expire documents – Set document expiration dates
• ✅ Manage team – Invite members, remove members, change roles
• ✅ Access activity logs – View complete document activity history

Sender

A high-level role focused on document workflow management. Senders can create, edit, and send documents but cannot manage team members.

Sender Permissions:

• ✅ Upload documents – Not available (cannot upload new documents)
• ✅ Edit documents – Add fields, modify content, change recipients
• ✅ Send documents – Send documents to recipients for signing
• ✅ View documents – Access all team documents and activity
• ✅ Download documents – Download completed documents as PDFs
• ✅ Clone documents – Duplicate documents as templates
• ✅ Delete documents – Permanently remove documents
• ✅ Expire documents – Set document expiration dates
• ❌ Manage team – Cannot invite or remove members
• ✅ Access activity logs – View complete document activity history

Use Case: Assign Sender role to team members who manage the complete document workflow—editing, sending, and tracking—but don't need team management privileges.

Editor

A mid-level role focused on document preparation. Editors can upload and edit documents but cannot send them to recipients.

Editor Permissions:

• ✅ Upload documents – Create new documents from PDFs or templates
• ✅ Edit documents – Add fields, modify content, prepare for sending
• ❌ Send documents – Cannot send documents to recipients
• ✅ View documents – Access all team documents and activity
• ✅ Download documents – Download completed documents as PDFs
• ✅ Clone documents – Duplicate documents as templates
• ❌ Delete documents – Cannot delete documents
• ❌ Expire documents – Cannot set expiration dates
• ❌ Manage team – Cannot invite or remove members
• ✅ Access activity logs – View complete document activity history

Use Case: Assign Editor role to team members who prepare documents (upload, add fields, format) but require approval from Owners or Senders before documents are sent to clients.

Viewer

The most restricted role with read-only access. Viewers can see documents and track activity but cannot make changes.

Viewer Permissions:

• ❌ Upload documents – Cannot create documents
• ❌ Edit documents – Cannot modify documents or add fields
• ❌ Send documents – Cannot send documents to recipients
• ✅ View documents – Access all team documents (read-only)
• ✅ Download documents – Download completed documents as PDFs
• ❌ Clone documents – Cannot duplicate documents
• ❌ Delete documents – Cannot delete documents
• ❌ Expire documents – Cannot set expiration dates
• ❌ Manage team – Cannot invite or remove members
• ✅ Access activity logs – View complete document activity history

Use Case: Assign Viewer role to stakeholders who need visibility into document status—accountants, auditors, managers—but shouldn't modify anything.

Permissions Comparison Matrix

Quick reference table for role permissions:

Assigning and Changing Roles

Who Can Assign Roles?

• Only Owners can assign roles to team members
• Only Owners can change existing member roles
• Senders, Editors, and Viewers cannot manage roles

How to Assign a Role When Inviting

1. Go to Account ➜ Team.
2. Click + Add member.
3. In the "Add team member" modal, enter the Email address.
4. Select a Role from the dropdown: Owner, Sender, Editor, or Viewer.
5. Click Send invitation.
6. The invited member receives the assigned role when they accept the invitation.

How to Change a Member's Role

1. Go to Account ➜ Team.
2. Find the team member in the "Team members" table.
3. In the Role column, click the dropdown next to their name.
4. Select the new role from the dropdown (Owner, Sender, Editor, Viewer).
5. The role is updated immediately without confirmation.
6. You'll see the alert "Role updated successfully."

Note: You cannot change your own role if you are the Owner. Another Owner must change your role.

Understanding Role Hierarchy

Team roles follow a hierarchy from most to least privileged:

1. Owner – Full control (team management + all document actions)
2. Sender – Document workflow management (edit, send, delete, expire)
3. Editor – Document preparation (upload, edit, view)
4. Viewer – Read-only access (view, download activity)

Key Differences:

• Owner vs Sender: Owner can manage team members; Sender cannot
• Sender vs Editor: Sender can send documents to recipients; Editor cannot
• Editor vs Viewer: Editor can upload and edit documents; Viewer cannot

Role Assignment Best Practices

Recommended Role Assignments

Owner Role:

• Business owners and decision-makers
• HR directors managing employment contracts
• Legal team leads overseeing contract workflows
• Account administrators responsible for billing

Sender Role:

• Sales managers who finalize and send contracts
• Contract administrators managing document distribution
• Project managers coordinating client agreements
• Operations staff responsible for workflow completion

Editor Role:

• Junior staff who prepare documents for review
• Administrative assistants drafting contracts
• Legal assistants adding fields and formatting documents
• Interns or temporary staff with supervised access

Viewer Role:

• Accountants tracking signed financial agreements
• Auditors reviewing document compliance
• External consultants needing visibility
• Board members monitoring contract activity

Security Best Practices

• Principle of Least Privilege: Assign the minimum role needed for each person's responsibilities
• Limit Owner Role: Keep the number of Owners small (2-3 maximum) to maintain control
• Review Regularly: Audit team roles quarterly and remove inactive members
• Protect Sensitive Documents: Use Viewer role for stakeholders who need visibility without editing rights
• Training: Ensure Senders and Editors understand their permissions before granting access

Limitations and Restrictions

Team Size Limit

• Maximum: 10 team members per Agency plan
• Includes: All roles (Owner, Sender, Editor, Viewer)
• Invitation Limit: Cannot invite new members once 10-member limit is reached
• Pending Invitations Count: Pending (unaccepted) invitations count toward the 10-member limit

Owner Role Restrictions

• The original team creator cannot be removed from the team
• You cannot change your own role if you are the sole Owner
• There must always be at least one Owner in a team

Role Change Behavior

• Role changes take effect immediately
• No email notification is sent when a member's role is changed
• Members see the updated permissions the next time they access the team
• Documents already in progress are not affected by role changes

Troubleshooting

Issue: Cannot see + Add member button

Fix: The + Add member button is only visible to team Owners. Verify you have the Owner role in Account ➜ Team. If you see your name with "Owner" label, you have the role. If you see a different role (Sender, Editor, Viewer), ask an existing Owner to change your role or invite members on your behalf.

Issue: + Add member button is disabled

Fix: The button is disabled when you've reached the 10-member team limit. Hover over the button to see the tooltip: "Maximum team members limit reached (10)". To invite new members, remove inactive members first. Go to Account ➜ Team, find inactive members in the table, and click the trash icon to remove them.

Issue: Team member cannot send documents

Fix: Only Owner and Sender roles can send documents. Check the member's role in Account ➜ Team. If they are assigned Editor or Viewer role, change their role to Sender or Owner. Click the role dropdown next to their name, select Sender or Owner, and the permission takes effect immediately.

Issue: Team member cannot edit documents

Fix: Only Owner, Sender, and Editor roles can edit documents. Viewers cannot edit. Check the member's role in Account ➜ Team. If they are a Viewer, change their role to Editor, Sender, or Owner depending on their responsibilities.

Issue: Changed a member's role but they still have old permissions

Fix: Role changes take effect immediately, but the member may need to refresh their browser or log out and back in. Ask the member to refresh the page (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R). If issue persists, have them log out and log back in to BreezeDoc. Verify the role change was saved by checking Account ➜ Team.

Issue: Cannot change role dropdown for a team member

Fix: You can only change roles if you are an Owner. Senders, Editors, and Viewers cannot change roles. Additionally, you cannot change the role of the team creator (original Owner). If the dropdown is missing or greyed out for a specific member, they may be the original team creator whose role cannot be changed.

FAQ

Q: Can a team have multiple Owners?

A: Yes! A team can have multiple Owners. Owners can assign the Owner role to other team members. This is useful for distributing administrative responsibilities across multiple people.

Q: What happens if the original Owner leaves the team?

A: The original Owner (team creator) cannot be removed from the team or have their Owner role changed to a lower role by anyone. If you need to transfer ownership, contact BreezeDoc support for assistance.

Q: Can I create custom roles with specific permissions?

A: No, BreezeDoc uses four predefined roles (Owner, Sender, Editor, Viewer) that cannot be customized. Choose the role that best matches each member's responsibilities.

Q: Do role changes affect documents already in progress?

A: No, documents that are already sent to recipients continue normally regardless of team role changes. Role changes only affect future actions on documents—viewing, editing, sending, etc.

Q: Can a Viewer download completed documents?

A: Yes, Viewers can download completed documents as PDFs. They have read-only access to all team documents and can download final signed documents for their records.

Q: What is the difference between Sender and Editor?

A: The key difference is sending permission. Senders can edit AND send documents to recipients for signatures. Editors can only edit documents and prepare them but cannot send them—they need an Owner or Sender to finalize and send. Additionally, Senders can delete and expire documents, while Editors cannot.

Need more help? Contact our support team – we are here to help!