Manage user profiles

Article
01/26/2024

Security groups are new to Business Central in 2023 release wave 1. They're similar to the user groups that this article mentions. Like user groups, administrators assign the permissions to the security group that its members need to do their jobs.

User groups will no longer be available in a future release. You can continue using user groups to manage permissions until then. To learn more about security groups, go to Control Access to Business Central Using Security Groups.

Assign all users to profiles that reflect:

Their business role
The department they work in
Another type of categorization

Profiles allow administrators to centrally define and manage what different types of users can access in Business Central.

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 settings for the related role. The card contains the following information:

Name of the role
User settings
The Role Center that the profile uses

For more information about user settings and Role Centers, see Change Basic Settings.

Before you can manage user profiles, you must create and add the users through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. You can then assign permissions to each user or user group. Permissions define the features that users can access. For more information about permission settings, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups.

Page customization

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

To create a profile

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

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

Tip

If you want a particular profile to be available only for very specific users, you can set the Description field to Navigation menu only.. This way, the profile is excluded from the list of available roles in My Settings.

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.

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

On the Profiles (Roles) page, select the line for the profile that you want to copy, and then choose the Copy Profile action.
Fill in the Profile ID and Display Name fields, and then choose the OK button.
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 Profiles (Roles) page. However, the changes aren't visible to the 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.

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

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 about user settings, see Change Basic Settings.

As an administrator, you can define settings for a profile. The settings apply to all users assigned to the role.

Choose the icon, enter Profiles (Roles), and then choose the related link.
Select the line for the profile that you want to change user settings for, and then choose the User Personalizations List action.
On the User Personalizations page, open the card for the user whose settings you want to change.
On the User Personalization Card page, edit the fields as necessary.

To activate a profile

When you create a profile, you can define if, where, and how the profile and its information are available to users.

On the Profiles (Roles) page, select the following checkboxes:

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 aren't 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 about role explorer, see Finding Pages with the Role Explorer.

To export profiles

You can export profiles from Business Central and reuse them in another tenant. The profiles are exported to a zip file that contains Application Language (AL) files. You can reuse the AL files to develop extensions. For more information about exporting profiles, see Use the Client to Create Profiles and Page Customizations.

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

This action exports a zip file that contains AL files for all profiles.

To import profiles

You can import profiles that are exported from Business Central. The steps are more or less the opposite of the steps to export profiles.

On the Profiles (Roles) page, choose the Import Profiles action.
Follow the steps on the Import Profiles wizard.

If you only want to import selected profiles, use the Selected checkbox to indicate which to import.
Choose the Import Selected button.

This action imports a zip file that contains AL files for the selected profiles.

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 can't delete a profile that is assigned to a user or a user group.
You can't 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 makes to pages. Deleting changes can be useful, for example, if an employee changes role and no longer needs them. The profile defines the page layout and deletions restore it back to that definition.

Choose the icon, enter User Personalizations, and then choose the related link.

The User Personalizations page lists all users who make personalizations.
Open the card for a user whose personalizations you want to delete.
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 make to specific pages. Deleting personalizations can be useful, for example, if a business process change means that a personalization can't be used. Deletions restore the page layout back to what the profile defines.

Choose the icon, enter User Page Personalizations, and then choose the related link.

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

A checkmark 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.
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.