Roles managed by Shopify
Some roles are managed by Shopify. Roles that are managed by Shopify aren't customizable, and can't be deleted. They include owner and administrator roles, as well as more specialized roles, such as Point of Sale and App developer roles.
Each store has only one store owner, and each organization has only one organization owner. Each store in an organization has a store owner.
Administrator roles are high trust roles that have a high level of access to your store, organization, or Point of Sale channel, and can be assigned to multiple users.
Roles managed by Shopify can't be customized or deleted.
You can identify roles managed by Shopify on the Settings > Users > Roles page of your Shopify admin. If you're part of a partner organization, then from your Partner dashboard, go to Organization > Users > Roles. Roles managed by Shopify are identified in the following ways:
- On the Roles index page, the checkbox to select the role can't be clicked.
- On the role's details page, indicated with a Role managed by Shopify section.
On this page
Considerations for owner roles
Each organization and store within your Shopify account must have an owner. The Organization owner and Store owner roles have complete access to all features within an organization or store respectively, and are the highest level of permission for those areas.
Each store has only one store owner, and each organization has only one organization owner. The owner is usually the person who created the store or organization.
Email messages from Shopify are sent to the store owner's email address.
Review the following considerations for store and organization owners.
Ownership structure for stores and organizations
- Each organization has one organization owner only, and each store in the organization has one store owner only.
- A user can be both an organization owner and a store owner.
- Each store within an organization can have a different store owner.
- When a new store is created within an organization, an organization owner might not have access to the new store by default. Learn more about how to access a new store in an organization.
Store owner access
- The following actions are available only to the store owner, and are unavailable to any other type of user regardless of their permissions:
- Managing Shopify Payments
- Creating and managing a Shopify Balance account
- Accessing Shopify Capital settings
- Pausing or deactivating a store
- Transferring or changing ownership
- Some optional or early access features that require Shopify Support's assistance to activate must be requested by the store owner
User management considerations
- You can't assign a store owner or organization owner role to a user the same way as other users. Instead, the current owner can change ownership to a new user.
- Organization owners have full access to organization features and managements, and can view and perform most tasks in stores within an organization with the following exception:
- Organizations owners can't change store ownership.
- If a store is part of an organization, then store owners in the organization can't create or manage roles.
Roles managed by Shopify
The following roles are managed by Shopify and can be relevant to merchant organizations. The following table lists each role, its category, the roles that can assign it, and a link to the full description. Some roles are assigned only within a Shopify Partner organization. A user in your organization might hold one of these roles, but you can't assign the role yourself.
| Role | Role category | Assigned by | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Organization | Store owner, Administrator | High-trust role that grants permissions for almost all features and resources in a single-store organization. |
| Organization administrator | Organization | Organization owner, Organization administrator | High-trust role that grants permissions for almost all features and resources across the organization and all stores. |
| POS administrator | Organization | Store owner, Administrator, POS administrator | Grants access to all Shopify POS features and resources in a single-store organization. |
| Organization POS administrator | Organization | Organization owner, Organization administrator, Organization POS administrator | Grants access to all Shopify POS features and resources across all stores in the organization. |
| App developer | Organization | Organization owner, Organization administrator | Grants access to the Dev Dashboard, custom app creation and management, app performance monitoring, and app settings configuration. |
| Store user administrator | Store | Organization owner, Organization administrator, Store owner, Store user administrator | Grants user management permissions for specific stores within the organization. |
| POS full permissions | POS | Organization owner, Organization administrator, Organization POS administrator, Store owner, Store user administrator, POS full permissions | Grants access to all Shopify POS features and resources in assigned stores, including POS user management. |
| POS user administrator | POS | Organization owner, Organization administrator, Organization POS administrator, Store owner, Store user administrator, POS full permissions | Grants POS user management permissions in assigned stores. |
| POS device setup | POS | Organization owner, Organization administrator, Store owner, Store user administrator | Grants access to set up the Shopify POS app on devices. |
| Collaborator access | Partner | Partner Organization owner, Partner Organization administrator | Grants a Partner organization member access to assigned collaborator stores. |
Organization roles
Organization roles grant permissions at the organization level. The following organization roles are available:
- Administrator
- POS administrator
- Organization administrator
- Organization POS administrator
- App developer
Administrator role
The Administrator role is available only for single-store organizations not on the Shopify Plus plan.
The Administrator role is a high-trust role that grants permissions for almost all features and resources in your store, including user management.
The Administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't perform ownership changes.
- This role can be assigned only by the store owner and users with the Administrator role.
- Permission restrictions, such as the Restrict permissions to assigned company locations store permission, don't apply to this role.
POS administrator role
The POS administrator role is available only for single-store organizations not on the Shopify Plus plan.
The POS administrator role grants access to all Shopify Point of Sale (POS) features and resources in your store, including POS user management.
The POS administrator role grants the following permissions:
- Access all POS features and POS locations in your store.
- Set up new or update devices with the POS app.
- View, add, edit, and delete POS-only users and POS roles.
- Assign and remove POS roles for users (not limited to POS-only users).
The POS administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't add, edit, or delete non-POS roles.
- Users with this role can't assign or remove groups for users.
- Users with this role can't have access conditions attached.
- This role can be assigned only by the store owner and administrators with equal or greater user management privilege.
Organization administrator role
The Organization administrator role is available only for stores on the Shopify Plus plan or stores in a multi-store organization.
The Organization administrator role is a high-trust organization role that grants permissions for almost all features and resources in your organization and all stores in the organization, including user management.
The Organization administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't perform ownership changes.
- This role can be assigned only by the organization owner and users with the Organization administrator role.
- Permission restrictions, such as the Restrict permissions to assigned company locations store permission, don't apply to this role.
Organization POS administrator role
The Organization POS administrator role is available only for stores on the Shopify Plus plan or stores in a multi-store organization.
The Organization POS administrator role is a high-trust organization role that grants access to all Shopify Point of Sale (POS) features and resources in an organization, including POS user management.
The Organization POS administrator role grants the following permissions:
- Access all POS features and POS locations in all stores in the organization.
- Set up new or update devices with the POS app.
- View, add, edit, and delete POS-only users and POS roles.
- Assign and remove POS roles for users (not limited to POS-only users).
The Organization POS administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't add, edit, or delete non-POS roles.
- Users with this role can't assign or remove groups, available on the Plus plan only, for users.
- Users with this role can't have access conditions attached.
- This role can be assigned only by the organization owner and administrators with equal or greater user management privilege.
App developer role
The App developer role is an organization role that grants access to app development and development store creation in an organization.
The App developer role grants the following permissions:
- Access the organization's Dev Dashboard.
- Create and manage custom apps.
- Monitor app performance and usage.
- Configure app settings and permissions.
- View, create, copy, and delete development stores.
The App developer role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't access production stores.
- Users with this role can't access financial or billing information.
- This role grants app development access only. It doesn't grant access to use or manage the apps that are installed on a store, which is controlled by store permissions.
Store roles
You can assign the following store roles to users in your store. The following store roles are available:
Store user administrator role
The Store user administrator role is a store role that grants user management permissions for specific stores within your organization.
Users with this role can manage all users in their assigned stores. The Store user administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- This role doesn't grant users access to any of the following organization-level user management tasks:
- Create or edit user roles.
- Delete users from an organization.
- Assign organization-level user roles, such as the Organization administrator.
- Create, edit, delete, assign, or remove users from groups.
- Suspend users.
- Users with this role can't view, create, edit, or delete non-user resources, such as products or orders.
POS roles
For stores using Shopify Point of Sale (POS) features and resources, you can assign the following POS roles to users. The following POS roles are available:
POS full permissions role
The POS full permissions role is a high-trust role that grants access to all POS features and resources in assigned stores, including POS user management.
The POS full permissions role grants the following permissions:
- Access all POS features and POS locations in assigned stores.
- Add and delete POS-only users in assigned stores.
- Assign and remove POS roles for users (not limited to POS-only users) in assigned stores.
The POS full permissions role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't add or edit roles.
- Users with this role can't set up new or update devices with the POS app.
- This role can be assigned only by the organization owner, the store owner, and administrators with equal or greater user management privilege.
POS user administrator role
The POS user administrator role is a high-trust role that grants access to user management for POS in assigned stores.
The POS user administrator role grants the following permissions:
- Add and delete POS-only users in assigned stores.
- Assign and remove POS roles for users (not limited to POS-only users) in assigned stores.
- Basic POS app access, including processing in-person sales at assigned stores.
The POS user administrator role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't add or edit roles.
- Users with this role can't set up new or update devices with the POS app.
- Users with this role don't have elevated POS permissions, such as returns and exchanges, custom discounts, or cash tracking, unless they're also assigned a POS role that grants them.
- This role can be assigned only by the organization owner, the store owner, and administrators with equal or greater user management privilege.
POS device setup role
The POS device setup role is a high-trust role that grants access to setting up the POS app on any device, and to approving requests for Nearby device log in.
The POS device setup role grants the following permissions:
- Log in to the POS app using Shopify account credentials to set up new or update devices.
- Approve requests for Nearby device log in from a device that's already logged in to Shopify POS.
The POS device setup role has the following permission limitations:
- Users with this role can't access POS features outside of device setup, unless they have other permissions that grant that access.
- This role can be assigned to users with an email-based Shopify account, store managers, and users who have the Grant manager approval permission.
Partner roles
Some roles are managed in Shopify Partner organizations and can't be assigned from a merchant organization. You can't assign these roles, but you might work with users who have them, such as a Partner with collaborator access to your store. You can remove a Partner's access to your store at any time.
Collaborator access role
The Collaborator access role grants a Partner organization member access to their assigned collaborator stores. This role is assigned only within a Shopify Partner organization. You control what a collaborator can do on your store through collaborator account permissions, and you can remove a collaborator account from your store at any time. For the full description, refer to Collaborator access role.