User roles determine what people can see, edit, and manage in Frontify. Different roles provide different levels of access across guidelines, libraries, and projects, helping teams collaborate while maintaining control over their brand content.

User roles at a glance

Frontify has three types of roles: main roles that define a user’s primary level of access, special roles for specific tasks, and add-on roles that provide additional administrative permissions.

The table below provides a brief overview of each role and its purpose.

Role	Role type	What they can do	Where it applies
Viewer	Main	View and search guideline and project content Browse and preview library assets Copy text and color codes Download permitted files and resources	Guidelines, libraries, and projects
Editor	Main	Everything a viewer can do Create, edit, organize, and translate content Upload and manage assets Provide feedback Invite viewers and editors where permitted	Assigned guidelines, libraries, and projects
Owner	Main	Everything an editor can do Edit and delete guidelines, libraries, and projects Manage space settings and permissions Invite collaborators and transfer ownership	Assigned guidelines, libraries, and projects
Reviewer	Special	View and download permitted content Leave comments and feedback on guidelines and project assets Annotate creative files during review Approve or reject assets in review workflows	Guidelines, projects, and asset review workflows
Translator	Special	View and navigate guideline content Translate existing text into additional languages Replace images with localized versions Use AI-assisted page translation when enabled	Assigned guidelines
Account admin	Add-on	Manage users, groups, roles, and access requests Configure account settings, security, SSO, and billing Control who can create spaces and invite collaborators Manage access and permissions across the account	Entire Frontify account (separate permissions required for accessing and editing individual spaces)
Brand owner	Add-on	Manage brand settings, name, logo, cover image, and color Create guidelines, libraries, and projects within their brand Transfer brand ownership Review access requests when explicitly designated as an approver	Assigned brand (separate permissions required to edit individual spaces)

Main roles

Main roles define a user’s primary level of access within a guideline, library, or project. They determine what users can view, edit, and manage within their assigned spaces.

Viewer

Viewers can access and use brand content in the guidelines, libraries, and projects they’ve been given access to. They can explore and download available content but can’t make changes.

Viewer capabilities

In guidelines, viewers can:

Read guideline pages and search across content.
Copy text snippets, color codes, and specifications.
Download attachments and referenced assets.
Switch between available guideline languages.
Export or print guideline pages (if printing is enabled for the guideline).

Note: Content restricted by targets is only visible to viewers who match those targets. Viewers without assigned targets will only see untargeted content.

In libraries, viewers can:

Browse folders and search for assets.
Preview assets and inspect metadata, tags, and relations.
Download assets in permitted formats and resolutions.
Create publications and export assets from published templates.

In projects, viewers can:

View project content and preview uploaded files.

Viewer limitations

Viewers can’t:

Create, edit, or delete content.
Upload new files or replace existing assets.
Add comments, annotations, or feedback.
Invite other users or adjust permissions.
Access or change guideline, library, or account settings.

Editor

Editors can create, edit, and organize brand content in the guidelines, libraries, and projects they have access to. They can do everything a viewer can do, with additional permissions to contribute and manage content within their assigned spaces.

Editor capabilities

In guidelines, editors can:

Create new guidelines within their assigned brand (unless restricted by account admins).
Switch between view and edit mode using the powerbar.
Create, rename, reorder, and delete documents, categories, and pages using the navigation manager.
Add, configure, move, and delete content blocks.
Apply targets to documents, pages, and content blocks to restrict visibility for specific audience groups (on Enterprise plans).
Add comments, annotations, and feedback to guideline pages.
Translate guideline content into additional languages when the multi-language feature is enabled.

In libraries, editors can:

Upload, replace, and delete assets.
Create and manage folders.
Edit asset metadata, tags, licenses, and relations.
Comment on assets and manage workflow statuses.
Invite users and groups to specific folders where folder-level permissions are available.

In projects, editors can:

Upload, edit, and delete files and creative assets.
Upload new revisions of existing files.
Participate in review, feedback, and approval workflows, where they have the required permissions.

Managing access and permissions:

Depending on account settings, editors can:

Invite viewers and editors to guidelines, libraries, and projects they have access to.
Change existing users’ permissions within those spaces, including upgrading viewers to editors or downgrading editors to viewers.
Manage permissions for groups they belong to within projects and libraries, provided they have permanent access.

Note: Account admins can restrict invitation and permission-management rights under Account → Required permissions. When restricted, only space owners and account admins can invite collaborators.

Editor limitations

Editors can’t:

Move projects between brands.
Delete entire guidelines, libraries, or projects.
Assign the owner role to other users.
Change settings reserved for space owners, such as guideline themes or library usage rules.
Archive or unarchive projects without the required ownership permissions.
Access or modify account-level settings, including billing and security.

Owner

Owners have full control over an individual guideline, library, or project. They can do everything an editor can do, with additional permissions to manage settings, access, and ownership within that space.

The owner role applies only to the spaces a user has access to. It’s different from the brand owner add-on role, which provides administrative permissions across a brand.

Owner capabilities

In guidelines, owners can:

Create, edit, and organize guideline content and navigation.
Configure guideline settings, including themes, layouts, and privacy settings.
Transfer guideline ownership to another user.
Permanently delete a guideline.

In libraries, owners can:

Upload, organize, and manage assets.
Configure library settings, usage settings, and download protection rules.
Upload new templates to template libraries.
Permanently delete a library.

In projects, owners can:

Upload and manage assets, revisions, and feedback.
Configure project-specific settings.
Archive or unarchive projects.
Move projects between brands.
Permanently delete a project.

Note: Only the designated project owner can archive or unarchive a project and access certain project settings. Even account admins cannot override these permissions without a transfer of ownership.

Managing access and permissions:

Within the spaces they own, owners can:

Invite users as viewers, editors, or owners.
Change or remove collaborators’ permissions.
Manage permissions for groups they belong to, provided they have permanent access.
Transfer ownership to another user.

Note: Owners retain retain invitation rights within the spaces they own, even when account-level invitation permissions are restricted. These rights apply to their owner role in that specific space, regardless of their roles elsewhere.

Owner limitations

Owners can’t:

Access or manage guidelines, libraries, or projects they haven’t been granted access to.
Change brand-level settings, such as brand color or brand tile appearance, unless they are also a brand owner or account admin.
Manage account-wide settings, including account administration, billing, and security.

Special roles

Special roles provide permissions for specific activities, such as reviewing or translating content. Their capabilities are limited to the areas where those activities are supported.

Reviewer

Reviewers can view creative content, provide feedback, and participate in review and approval workflows without editing the original files. The role is primarily used in projects and asset review workflows.

Reviewer capabilities

In projects and workspaces, reviewers can:

View and search creative assets, design files, and project deliverables.
Download project files and previews where permitted.
Add comments, annotations, and feedback to asset previews.
Approve, reject, or request changes to submitted assets and publications.
View the asset audit trail for individual files (on Enterprise plans).

With folder-level access (in DAM), reviewers can:

Browse assets and view their metadata within folders where they have Can review permission.
Download permitted files.
Add comments and feedback to assets within those folders.

Reviewer limitations

Reviewers can’t:

Upload new assets, design files, or revisions.
Edit, replace, or delete existing files or publications.
Edit guideline content or change its structure.
Manage project settings, or archive or delete projects.
Invite collaborators or manage user permissions.

Learn more about collecting feedback and managing approvals in Feedback and approval process.

Translator

Translators can translate existing content and replace images in additional languages without changing the guideline’s structure or base-language content. Access is granted per guideline and cannot be restricted to individual pages or languages within it.

Translator capabilities

In guidelines, translators can:

View published guideline pages and search for content.
Switch between and edit any configured additional languages in the guidelines they have access to.
Replace existing images with localized versions.
Use AI-assisted translation to translate untranslated content across an entire page, when enabled.

Translator limitations

Translators can’t:

Create new documents, categories, or pages.
Add, remove, or rearrange content blocks.
Edit content in the guideline’s base language.
Add or remove languages in guideline settings.
Invite collaborators or manage user permissions.
Access libraries or projects unless they’ve been granted access separately.

Learn how to enable additional languages and manage translations in Multi-language feature.

Add-on roles

Add-on roles provide additional administrative permissions at the account or brand level. They must be assigned alongside a main role and don’t replace a user’s existing permissions within individual spaces.

Account admin

Account admin is an add-on role that provides administrative control over the Frontify account, including account settings, security, user management, and access permissions.

Account admins manage the platform as a whole, but they need the appropriate space-level permissions to access or edit content within individual guidelines, libraries, and projects.

Account admin capabilities

Across the account, account admins can:

Manage users, user groups, and smart groups.
Invite users and assign or remove group memberships.
Configure account-wide settings, including security, single sign-on (SSO), domains, and billing.
Control who can create brands, guidelines, libraries, and projects.
Define which roles can invite collaborators and change user permissions.
Review, approve, or decline access requests.
Manage invitation approvals and provisioning workflows when user provisioning is enabled.

Account admin limitations

Account admins have account-wide administrative permissions, but these don’t automatically grant access to content within individual guidelines, libraries, or projects.

Account admins:

Don’t automatically become collaborators in every space. They can manage access and assign roles centrally, even for spaces they haven’t joined.
Need a space-level role to access or edit content. They can assign themselves the appropriate role in Access management, subject to any required provisioning approvals.
Can’t override project ownership requirements. Only the designated project owner can archive or unarchive a project or perform certain ownership-specific actions.
Can’t bypass provisioning workflows. When provisioning approvals are enabled, they also apply to invitations initiated by account admins.

Brand owner

Brand owner is an add-on role that provides administrative control over a specific brand in Frontify. Brand owners manage brand settings and appearance, while owners manage individual guidelines, libraries, or projects.

Brand owner capabilities

Within their assigned brand, brand owners can:

Manage brand settings, including the brand name, logo, cover image, and color.
Create new guidelines, libraries, and projects, subject to account-level creation permissions.
Transfer brand ownership to another user.
Review, approve, or decline access requests when explicitly designated as a reviewer or delegate by an account admin.

Brand owner limitations

Brand owners:

Can only manage their assigned brands. They don’t automatically have administrative permissions for other brands in the organization.
Don’t automatically have editing permissions within individual spaces. They need the appropriate editor or owner role to edit content, navigation, themes, or other space-level settings.
Can’t configure account-wide creation permissions. These are managed by account admins.
Can’t manage account-wide administrative settings. User management, single sign-on, billing, and global security settings are reserved for account admins.
Can’t automatically approve access requests. They can only participate in requests explicitly delegated to them by an account admin.

Managing access and permissions

Folder-level permissions (DAM only)

Folder-level permissions let users and groups access specific folders within a library or project without granting access to the entire space.

Collaborators with editor or owner permissions in a library or project, as well as account admins, can grant access to individual folders. Users with Can edit permission for a specific folder can also invite others to that folder, unless restricted by account settings.

Invited users can access their shared folders and subfolders through the Shared folders view.

Folder-level permissions are available in media, document, icon, and logo libraries, as well as projects. They aren’t available in template libraries.

There are three folder-level permission levels:

Can view: Browse, search, and download assets within the shared folder.
Can review: All folder-level viewing permissions, plus the ability to comment on assets and provide feedback.
Can edit: Upload, edit, replace, and delete assets, update workflow statuses, and invite others to the folder.

Note: Folder-level permissions only grant additional access. They can’t reduce permissions a user already has at the library or project level. For example, a library editor or owner retains access to all folders, regardless of folder-level settings.

Assigning and managing user roles

Frontify provides different ways to manage who can access and interact with content. User roles control permissions within guidelines, libraries, and projects; folder-level permissions provide access to specific folders; and targets control which guideline content is visible to different audiences.

Account settings

Account admins can manage users and assign roles across Frontify through Access management. They can also configure who can create brands, guidelines, libraries, and projects under Account → Required permissions.

The Invite and change user permissions setting determines which roles can invite collaborators and manage permissions within individual spaces.

Managing collaborators in a space

To view or manage collaborators in a specific guideline, library, or project:

Open the relevant guideline, library, or project.
Access the collaborator list:
- In guidelines: Select Invite users from the bottom action bar.
- In libraries and projects: Select Invite in the top-right corner.
Review the assigned users, groups, and roles. Use the available search or filters to find specific collaborators.
If you have the appropriate permissions, invite users or update their assigned roles.

Note: Users granted access through a group may appear under the group rather than as individual collaborators.

For more information about inviting users, assigning roles, and managing access, see User access management.

Controlling content visibility with targets

Targets let you tailor guideline content for different audiences, such as internal teams, external partners, or public viewers.

Guideline owners and editors can apply targets to documents, categories, pages, and individual content blocks to control which content each audience can see.

Targets manage visibility within a guideline rather than granting access to the guideline itself.

Learn how to enable, create, and apply targets in Targets for guidelines.

User roles and permissions