Understanding User Permissions in Sprout Social: Access Levels and Feature Settings

New to Sprout Social? Learn how our advanced permission structure fits into our suite of team collaboration tools here.

This article explains how user permissions work in Sprout Social. It covers permission levels at the company, group, profile, and feature levels, including publishing rights, asset library access, billing controls, and more. 

Use this guide to understand how to manage user access, assign roles, and troubleshoot visibility or access issues across your team.

See this related article:

• Groups and user set up

How to view personal permissions

View your personal, company, and feature permissions in Settings > Personal Settings. You'll see what you have access to and who to contact for changes.

Permissions overview

The table below provides an overview of Sprout permissions:

Key permissions categories

Sprout uses roles and permissions to help account owners and admins control who can do what across the platform. You can set permissions at different levels:

What are Company-level permissions?

Company Permissions comprise any administrative permissions you’d like to assign for a user. These permissions focus on tools that need higher-level management, as well as billing and overall team management.

The Company Permissions are broken down as follows:

The company-level permissions control top-level functions like billing, user management, and organization settings. Here are the most common permissions in this section:

• Administration Permissions - Ideal for users managing your overall Sprout account, not specific teams or profiles. These permissions let users:
  • Set up URL tracking
  • Manage X (Twitter) Keywords
  • Access Billing (if enabled) - view, edit, and receive billing info, and update your subscription plan.
• Manage Billing: Allows the user to view and update billing details, download invoices, and change subscription plans. Best for finance admins.
• Manage Profiles & Permissions: Enables assigning user roles, managing access to profiles, and editing group memberships.
• Manage Tags: Ideal for users focused on analytics and campaign tracking. This permission lets them create, edit, delete, archive, and unarchive internal tags.

What are Feature-level permissions?

These are feature-specific permissions that let you control access to specific tabs, such as the Dashboard and areas like the Asset Library, Listening, or Post Approvals.

• Dashboard: This permission lets users view the Dashboard at login. It can be enabled or disabled and gives a quick overview of activity in your Sprout account.
• Access Asset Library: Grants the ability to upload, edit, and use media assets. Ideal for content creators and designers.
• View Reporting: Allows viewing reports’ performance and customizing access to add competitors’ profiles or enable additional reports such as Engagement, Team and Custom reports.
• Listening: Control access to the Listening tab and include:
  • Twitter Search: Access Twitter search results
  • View Topics: Analyze and view Listening Topic data
  • Manage Topics: Create, edit, and delete Listening Topics
  • Tag Messages: Apply internal tags to incoming messages

• Approve Posts: Lets users approve or reject content from other team members before publishing. Useful for workflows with compliance or brand approval stages.
• Smart Inbox: Smart Inbox permissions control access to key inbox features and include:
  • Manage Advanced Inbox Features: Manage Automated Rules, Spike Alerts, Macros, Contact Lists, Customer Feedback, and Integrations. (All users can still add/remove profiles from Contact Lists.)
  • Manage Brand Keywords: Create, edit, and delete Brand Keywords.
  • Manage Message Status: Mark messages as Complete and hide completed items in Smart Inbox and Reviews.

• Publishing: Publishing permissions control specific actions in Sprout, including:
  • Manage Sprout Queue: Create, edit, delete, disable, or pause the queue
  • Manage Custom Post Variables: Create, edit, and delete custom post variables
  • Tag Messages: Apply tags in Smart Inbox, Reviews, and Publishing sections
• People: Allows a user to create and add roles and team members for your Sprout account.
• Bots: The Bots permission allows a user to create and customize chatbots for your Sprout account.
• Reviews: Control access to the Reviews tab and include:
  • Tag Messages: Apply internal tags to reviews
  • Manage Message Status: Mark reviews as Complete and hide them from the tab
  • Edit 3-Star Ratings: Define 3-star ratings as positive or negative in reporting

FAQs

How do I view my current permissions in Sprout Social?

You can view your access by going to Settings > Personal Settings. If you’re unsure, ask your account Admin to confirm your level.

I need to find out who the primary Sprout account holder / owner is for our organization. How do I do that?

If you're not sure who the Sprout Social Account Owner (main account holder) is, you can easily visit your Personal Settings by clicking on your profile picture in the bottom left of the screen in Sprout and click Settings. Then, under Personal Settings, take a look under the Personal Permissions section, which will outline and information bubble saying "Request permissions by contacting [Account Owner Name] (account_owner_email)".

How do I give a team member access to social profiles?

Admins can go to Settings > Roles & Team Members. Once there, click on the ‘Team & Members’ tab located at the top right, select the user, and assign them to the appropriate group(s) and profile(s). Group access determines which social profiles and content the user can access.

Why can I not see all profiles or reports in a Group?

If you can't view a specific profile or report, it's likely because you're not added to the Group that has access to those profiles. Contact your Admin to update your group or profile access.

For more information on our Group feature, please check: How do I create Groups in Sprout?

How do I set up permissions for the Asset Library?

Go to Settings > Asset Library, then select the user and assign one of the Asset Library roles for them to access its features. Users will then be able to upload, view, and attach media in posts depending on the selected role.

For more information on the Asset Library, we recommend checking the following article: How do I use the Asset Library?

Why can’t some of my team members access our Reviews?

Reviews access is a separate permission. Admins must enable “Reviews” permission for the user via Settings > Roles & Team Members. Once done, the user will be able to see and take action on incoming reviews.

For more information on our Reviews feature, please check: Reviews

Why can’t some of my team members access Listening or our Reports?

Admins must enable ‘Reporting’ permission for the user to be able to access both Listening and Reports.

How do I restrict publishing access to certain users?

You can assign those users a ‘Read Only’ or ‘Can Reply’ role. Needs Approval access to a profile allows the user to draft posts, but they cannot publish them without approval. 

For a detailed guide on the existing Roles, please check: How do I create User Roles?

Who can manage billing settings in Sprout Social?

Only the Account Owner/Super Admin and users with the “Manage Billing” permission can access billing and subscription settings.

How do I choose who approves posts for specific profiles?

Admins can set up approval workflows by going to Settings > Approval Workflows. There, you can assign approvers for specific users or profiles to ensure content is reviewed before publishing.

For more information on our Approval Workflows feature, please check: Manage Approval Workflows

Why can I not edit a user’s permissions or role?

Only Account Owner/Admins or users with “Manage Permissions” and “Manage Profiles” permissions can edit user roles. If you’re unsure, ask your account Admin to review your permissions.

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