The Visibility & privacy settings in deskbird give administrators control over how much users and groups can see each other within the platform and how much of their own activity they choose to share. Getting these settings right helps strike the right balance between transparency for collaboration and privacy for individual employees.
- Where to find Visibility & privacy
- Visibility settings
- Privacy settings
- Implication on core system roles
- Frequently asked questions
1. Where to find Visibility & privacy
The Visibility & privacy settings require admin-level access to configure. To navigate there, go to Admin User Management Visibility & privacy. Any changes made take effect immediately after clicking Save. Use Reset to discard unsaved changes and revert to the last saved configuration.
2. Visibility settings
Visibility settings determine which users and groups are discoverable by others within deskbird. There are two separate controls: one for users and one for groups.
User visibility
This setting controls who can find and see other users in deskbird — for example in search results or on the office map. There are two options:
- All users (Recommended) — Every user in the organisation can find and view every other user. This is the default and recommended setting for most organisations, as it enables the best collaboration and "find a colleague" experience.
- Only users in groups they are part of or managing — Users can only discover and view other users who belong to the same groups. This is useful for larger organisations that want to restrict cross-department visibility for privacy or organisational reasons.
Group visibility
This setting controls which groups are visible to users in deskbird. There are two options:
- All groups — All existing groups are visible to all users.
- Only groups they are part of or managing — Users can only see groups they belong to or manage.
⚠️ If user visibility is restricted to groups, the Group visibility setting is automatically locked to Only groups they are part of or managing and cannot be changed to All groups. Allowing all groups to be visible would indirectly expose users outside the permitted scope, which would conflict with the restricted user visibility setting.
3. Privacy settings
Privacy settings control whether users can have private profiles and what the default profile type is for new users.
Private profiles
This setting determines whether users can set their profile to private:
- No (Recommended) — Private profiles are disabled. All user profiles are always public and their activities are visible to others according to their role permissions. Users cannot change their own profile type. This is the recommended setting for most teams, as it supports transparency and collaboration.
- Yes — Private profiles are enabled. Users can choose whether to set their profile to private or keep it public. If another user wants to see the activities of a user with a private profile, they must send a follow request first — the user with the private profile must accept it before their schedules and bookings become visible to that person.
Default profile type
This setting is only relevant when Private profiles is set to Yes. It defines the profile type applied to new user profiles by default:
- Public — New users start with a public profile. Their activities are visible to others based on role permissions, without requiring a follow request.
- Private — New users start with a private profile. Others must send a follow request that the user accepts before being able to view their schedules and bookings.
💡 When private profiles are enabled, individual users can change their own profile type at any time from their personal profile settings, regardless of the default set here.
4. Implication on core system roles
The visibility and privacy policies configured above directly affect what each core system role can see and do. The table below summarises the implications per role. There are three key capabilities affected:
- View user profiles — The ability to find a user in search and view their basic information, for example on their profile page.
- View user activities — The ability to view a user's schedules and bookings, for example on their profile page.
- Manage user activities — The ability to edit schedules and bookings on behalf of a user.
The table below reflects the most restrictive configuration (user visibility limited to own groups, private profiles enabled with "Private" as default). When using the recommended settings (all users visible, private profiles disabled), higher-level roles will have broader access.
| Core role | View user profiles | View user activities | Manage user activities |
|---|---|---|---|
| User | Users in groups they are part of |
|
No users |
| Group manager |
|
|
Users in groups they manage and their subgroups |
| Manager | All users | All users | All users |
| Office administrator | All users | All users | All users |
| Global administrator | All users | All users | All users |
⚠️ Manager, Office administrator, and Global administrator roles always retain full visibility and management access, regardless of the visibility and privacy settings configured.
5. Frequently asked questions
Only if Private profiles is set to Yes in Admin User Management Visibility & privacy. When enabled, users can switch between a public and private profile at any time from their personal profile settings — the admin-defined default only determines their starting configuration. If private profiles are disabled (set to No), all profiles are always public and users have no option to change this.
Private profile settings affect the visibility of activities for regular users and group managers. However, roles with elevated permissions — Manager, Office administrator, and Global administrator — retain full access to view and manage all user activities, regardless of whether a profile is set to private.
No. When user visibility is restricted to groups, users can only find and view colleagues who are members of the same groups as them (or groups they manage). Colleagues outside those groups will not appear in search results or other discovery features.
When user visibility is restricted to groups, the Group visibility setting is automatically locked to Only groups they are part of or managing — the All groups option is disabled and cannot be selected. This is by design: if all groups were visible, users could indirectly discover the existence of users outside their permitted scope, which would undermine the restricted user visibility setting.
Yes. The visibility and privacy settings apply across deskbird, including the Interactive Floor Plan. If a user's profile is private or their visibility is restricted to certain groups, other users outside those groups will not see their name or booking on the floor plan.