Roles and Permissions
Team and Enterprise plans support four roles: Admin, General, Viewer, and Volunteer. Each role has a defined set of permissions.
Permission matrix
| Action | Admin | General | Viewer | Volunteer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View accessions, files, fonds, dossiers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Own/assigned only |
| Search the archive | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Run Research & Explore sessions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Export — Free formats (CSV / JSON / Markdown) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Export — Pro formats (EAD3, BagIt, etc.) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Create accessions via Field Capture | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Create / edit / delete accessions (main app) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Upload files | ✓ | ✓ | — | Via Field Capture |
| Create / edit fonds, sub-fonds, series | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Create / edit dossiers | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Run / edit Quick or Full Analysis | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Edit AI & Defaults — Writing Style (per-seat) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Edit AI & Defaults — Institutional Context (org-wide) | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Edit Data Model schema | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Manage Export formats and mappings | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Invite / remove members | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Change member roles | ✓ | — | — | — |
| View billing and upgrade plan | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Delete organisation | ✓ | — | — | — |
Role descriptions
Admin
Full control over the organisation, its data, its members, and its billing.
Typical: Lead archivist, manager, organisation owner.
A workspace must always have at least one Admin. You can't demote or remove the last Admin; promote someone else first.
General
Day-to-day archival work — uploading, describing, organising, exporting. No org-management permissions.
Typical: Staff archivists, researchers, contractors, volunteers doing description work.
General is the right role for most members.
Viewer
Read-only access. Can browse, search, and run Explore — useful for stakeholders who need visibility without edit rights.
Typical: Trustees, funders, external researchers, governance committees.
Viewer can export CSV, JSON, and Markdown but not the professional formats (EAD3, BagIt, etc.).
Volunteer
Limited access for community volunteers doing field capture work. Can access only the Field Capture mobile app and only see accessions they've created themselves or been assigned.
Typical: Community volunteers, scanning day participants, distributed collection contributors.
Volunteers use the Field Capture PWA at app.archivers.ai/capture to photograph items and record metadata on-site. Their captures appear in the archivist's review queue and are processed normally. Volunteers cannot access the main desktop application, search, export, or see other accessions in the archive.
See Volunteer Field Capture for the full guide.
Changing a role
Admin → Organisation → Members → … → Change role.
The change takes effect immediately. The affected member's permissions update on their next page navigation.
Workspace ownership
The first Admin who set up the organisation is the workspace owner. They:
- Are billed for the subscription
- Cannot be removed by another Admin (only by themselves or by support)
- Receive billing notifications
Ownership can be transferred via support@archivers.ai.