Everyone has experienced the extreme difficulty of trying to explain a specific setting, view, record, or overall unusual item on their screen to someone else. As we move into a time where more and more users are working remotely, we are also challenged to find new ways to work together. Often, we can’t simply walk over to our Admin’s desk to show them what we’re seeing, or screen share on a Zoom call for hours to let our Admin team troubleshoot. This is where the “Log In As Any User” setting in Salesforce is even more valuable and helpful than ever before.
First, to log in as another user, we must first verify that the setting is active in our org. Follow along with the steps below to verify the appropriate settings and log in as another user in Salesforce.
Note: To follow along with the steps below, use or create a Playground from Salesforce Trailhead or a Developer Edition org.
Confirm Login Access Policies
- Once in your Salesforce org, click the gear icon to open the Setup menu.
- In the Quick Find search box, search for “Login Access Policies” and click to open the selection.
- Make sure the checkbox next to the “Administrators Can Log in as Any User” setting is checked.
- Click Save.
- The next few steps are optional, but if you or other Admins find yourself using the “Log In As Any User” option in Salesforce frequently, these additional steps will be helpful.
- In the Quick Find search box, search for “Session Settings” and click to open the selection.
- Uncheck the “Force relogin after Login-As-User” checkbox.
- Click Save.
Log In As Another User
- Next, in the Quick Find search box, search for “Users” and click to open the selection. Click the “Login” link next to one of the users in the list.
- When logged in as another user, a reminder and log-out link will display at the top of the screen.
- To log out of the user’s preview and go back to your account, click the “Log out as [user’s name]” link.
Instances Where Log In is Not Available
In the above screenshot for step 1 under Log In As Another User, you may have noticed that the Login link is not available for all users. In the demo org for this blog post, the users missing the Login link have one of the following profiles:
- System Administrator
- Chatter Free User,
- Analytics Cloud Integration User, or
- Analytics Cloud Security User
In the above screenshot, I’m already logged in as the System Admin profile, and that’s the only reason I can’t log in (again) as the same user.
At the time of this post, it is not possible to log in as a Chatter Free User. There is an IdeaExchange post with a request for Salesforce to enable this functionality, but it is currently listed as “Not Planned”. It is therefore not included in the future roadmap at this time.
The Login link is also not available for users with the Analytics Cloud Integration User and Analytics Cloud Security User profiles. This is a deliberate setting by Salesforce – you can find more information about that setting here.
For other helpful Admin tools in Salesforce, check out some of my related blogs below!
Additional Resources
- IdeaExchange: Allow Salesforce admins to login-as Chatter Free users
- Salesforce Knowledge: Best Practices: Manage Integration and Security Users in CRM Analytics (Tableau CRM)
- Enhanced Profile User Interface
- Schema Builder pt. 1: What is it?
Copy Photo by regularguy.eth on Unsplash