What is a Permission Set?
As we will discuss more in a later blog post, profiles control user access to objects and data in Salesforce. Usually, you assign a single profile to multiple individuals. The profile provides all of the users with the same access to objects and data in the org. But what if you want one of those individuals to have more access than their peers for a specific object or to modify specific data? This is where Permission Sets in Salesforce come in!
In Salesforce, you use Permission Sets to enhance permissions and access to a specific user.
Permission Sets in Action
Let’s review a permission set example together.
In the example, all users are assigned to the same Profile – Profile A. Profile A provides users with “Read” access to the Account object. However, each user now needs additional, different access to Account records. Below, review the information to see what additional permissions are granted to each user through the different permission sets.
| User | Current permissions on Account object (through Profile A) | New, required permissions on Account object | New Permission Set name and access | Resulting permissions on Account object (through Profile and respective Permission Set) |
| User A | Read | Read | No additional permissions will be granted to this user. | Read |
| User B | Read | Edit | Permission Set “PS1” will be created to provide the user with “Edit” access on the Account object. | Read, Edit |
| User C | Read | Create | Permission Set “PS2” will be created to provide the user with “Create” access on the Account object. | Read, Create |
| User D | Read | Delete | Permission Set “PS3” will be created to provide the user with “Delete” access on the Account object. | Read, Edit*, Delete |
*Note that it is standard Salesforce functionality for Edit access to also be provided when Delete access is given.
To learn more about permission sets, check out the additional resources below and the related post, “Muting Permission Sets.”
Additional Resources
- Salesforce Help: Permission Sets
- Salesforce Help: Object Permissions
Cover Photo by Danielle Rice on Unsplash
