View as
View as lets you look at the management interface the way somebody else sees it, without logging out of your own account. It is available to Administrators on the Business and Enterprise packages. Learn more: Packages and License Tiers
There are two ways in:
- the mode selector in the bottom left corner of the interface, for any of the modes below;
- the Impersonate user action on a user's row in Settings > Users, which starts impersonating that user straight away. Your own row has no such action. While you are impersonating someone, their row offers Exit impersonation instead.
It answers the question a permission table cannot: what does this actually look like for them? Each mode is marked with its own color, so the view you are in is always visible.
Modes
When you open the selector you are asked to choose how you want to preview.
| Mode | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Admin | Reveals menus hidden by the UI Profile — the interface without the restrictions the customer's user interface profile applies. |
| Team | Preview access for one or more teams. The interface is narrowed to what members of those teams can reach, and the customer's global Team settings (for example, whether resources can be created in root folders) apply as if you were a member of the selected teams. |
| Impersonate | See the interface the way a specific user sees it, and go through it the way they would. |
While a mode is active, a banner names it — for example Hidden menus revealed in Admin mode, or Team view when one or more teams are selected. If you narrow your own view rather than taking on somebody else's, the banner says so instead.
Impersonating a user, on its own or together with a team selection, is marked in a different color again, and the banner names the user and their role:
Using the banner
- Switch user — click the user's name on the banner to pick another user, without going back to your own view first.
- Team narrowing — the team button adds a team selection on top of the current view.
- More — reopens the View as selector, Pins or Unpins the banner, or Exits. Exit ends every active mode at once and returns you to your own view.
- You can drag the banner out of the way, or collapse it with its toggle.
Impersonating is the way to check what a user sees and to walk through what they do. Your actions still run with your own permissions, though: if your role allows more than theirs, something they could not do may still work for you. To confirm what a user is actually allowed to do, check their role and teams.
What is unavailable while impersonating
A few actions are switched off while you impersonate a user, so that you do not change their account, or leave it, by accident. They come back as soon as you exit impersonation. Most of these buttons explain why on hover.
| Where | Unavailable while impersonating |
|---|---|
| Settings > Users, on the row of the user you are viewing as | Changing their password, editing them, editing their User Interface Profile, setting their teams or PIN code, and removing them |
| Your profile | Changing profile data, and Log out |
| Switching customer | Switching to another customer, or leaving a network member |
| Devices | Managing Devices and device folders, and managing the Devices of a video wall |
| Announcements | Creating and managing announcements |
Changing something while viewing as someone else
Some parts of the interface are personal to each user — the table layout, the Quick access layout, and pinned items. If you change one of these while impersonating, you are asked what to do with it before anything is written:
- Save to user — writes the change to their account, for them and everyone else who sees it.
- Keep local — leaves their account untouched. The change then lasts only until you leave the view.
The same prompt offers to remember your choice for that kind of setting from then on.
Save to user is a real change to another person's account, not a preview. Use Keep local when you are only looking.
Effect on pinned folders
A View as team selection also narrows which folders you can see, which affects the pinned folders list. A pin that points somewhere the selected team cannot reach is shown as inaccessible while that view is active. Switching back to all teams shows it again.
Learn more: About User Interface Profiles and UI profile rules