In Salesforce, there are different levels of Security for records. OWD (Org/Organization-Wide Defaults) is the topmost level that controls the visibility and access of records for every Salesforce object.
To access OWD Settings, you need to go to Setup (1) and search for “Sharing Settings” (2) and click on Edit. Just like the picture below.
In the picture above, you can see we are able to set the type of access for each object separately. One thing to note here is that we cannot set access for the objects that are on the detail side of a Master-Detail relationship. For Detail objects in a Master-Detail Relationship, the parent permissions automatically apply to the detail object as well.
Type of access that can be given:
- Private
- Public Read Only
- Public Read/Write
- Public Read/Write/Transfer
Grant Access Using Hierarchy
The Grant Access Using Hierarchies option is the default for all the Standard Objects. Consequently, it is only editable for custom objects. When using the Role Hierarchy, the Users higher in the hierarchy automatically get access to the records of Users that are lower in the hierarchy. To stop this, you can deselect the checkbox.
Manual Sharing
Manual Sharing is a checkbox in the OWD settings. The checkbox controls if a User is allowed to manually share a record with other users/groups. If it’s unchecked, users can’t see the button to share the record.
Conclusion
Since Org Wide Defaults are the first step to configure the record visibility and access in Salesforce, it’s very important to take time to think about what these settings should be. Additionally, you can configure how Role hierarchies should react with Org Wide Settings.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that Org-Wide Defaults restrict user access to records, while other settings like Roles, Sharing Rules, Manual Sharing and Apex Sharing expand user access to records.
Learn more about expanding record access in Salesforce with my related posts below!
Additional Resources
- Salesforce Record Security
- Apex Sharing
- Salesforce Help: Set Your Internal Organization-Wide Sharing Defaults
Cover Photo by Abbe Sublett on Unsplash