Managing Account Access and Permissions in the Client Area

There are several scenarios where a user needs the ability to access and manage the websites and accounts of multiple customers. For example, web designers, web developers and digital agencies often need access to administer multiple hosting accounts. Or, you might want to add someone as a contact, like an accountant or an assistant, so they can pay an invoice or reach out to support on your behalf.

We explain the difference between an Owner, a User and a Contact in your Account and show you how to add them and manage their permissions.

• What Is An Account?
• What are Users?
• What Is An Account Owner?
• Adding New Users
• Adding New Contacts
• Managing Accounts and Users
• Accessing Multiple Accounts with a Single User

What Is An Account?

Accounts own products and services. They represent a billable party, like a business. At WHC, you can access and manage your account from your Client Area.

What Is An Account Owner?

Each account has a single Account Owner. Account Owners are able to send invitations from the account Client Area, to give access to new and additional users. The account owner may also define the access and permissions for each user accordingly.

What are Users?

A User is a person who can log in and access your account to view certain information and/or make changes based on the permissions you assign. Any person who requires to log in to the Client Area, will need to be added as a User.

What are Contacts?

A Contact can contact WHC support on your behalf but has no access to your account. A contact can also receive certain emails that you choose, perfect for your accountant who will receive your invoices but will not have access to your account for example.

Adding New Users

Account Owners can invite new Users to join their account, using the following procedure:

1. Login to the Client Area
2. Click on your profile image, then Account Settings
3. Locate the Users section, then click Add User
4. Enter the desired user email address & choose to Select All to grant all available permissions, or choose from the available list to allocate specific permissions.
5. Click Send Invite

An invitation will be sent to the new User, allowing them to accept the invite. If you send an invite to an email address for an existing account, they can access the client account using their existing login credentials. If the email address does not correspond to an existing account, they will be prompted to create one.

Adding New Contacts

Follow the same process and under the Contacts section click Add Contact.

If you are using the old Client Area:

1. Login to the Client Area
2. Go to Settings > User Management
3. Enter an email address under Invite New User
4. Choose All Permissions to grant all available permissions, or choose Choose Permissions to allocate specific permissions
5. Click Send Invite

An invitation will be sent to the new User, allowing them to accept the invite. If you send an invite to an email address for an existing account, they can access the client account using their existing login credentials. If the email address does not correspond to an existing account, they will be prompted to create one.

Managing Accounts and Users

Account Owners can manage Users and their permissions from the User Management section of the Client Area. For example, you could choose to provide only web hosting account access to a web developer, without granting access to other privileges such as billing and invoicing. 

To do this:

1. Login to the Client Area
2. Click on your profile image, then Account Settings
3. Under the Users section, locate the User (e.g. user1@example.com), then click the Edit icon
4. Optional: To completely revoke access for a particular User, click the corresponding Delete icon to remove them from the account.
5. Select the desired permissions
6. Click Send Invite to save your changes

If you are using the old Client Area:

1. Login to the Client Area
2. Go to Settings > User Management
3. Find the desired User in the list
4. Optional: To completely revoke access for a particular User, click Remove Access to remove them from the account
5. Click Manage Permissions
6. Select the desired permissions
7. Click Save Changes

Accessing Multiple Accounts with a Single User

If a User who is only associated with one account logs in, their login session will automatically be associated with that account.

If a User has access to multiple accounts, they will be given the option to select which account to log in to. They can click the desired account name to login and manage that account.

Note: At any time, a User can switch between accounts by going to the Switch Account section of their Client Area, and clicking on a different account name.