View as

View as lets a Super admin see Messages exactly as one particular person does: their lists, their masked contacts, their locked buttons. It's the surest way to answer "what can the youth leader actually see?" or "why is this list missing?". It is strictly look-only, it ends by itself after 30 minutes, and everything is logged.

When to use this

• Checking a new permission does what you intended, before telling the leader it's ready.
• Answering a leader's question about a missing list or a greyed-out button.
• The monthly review, to spot-check a sensitive ministry's access.

Don't use it out of curiosity about what someone is working on. Every session has a reason on record, and admins review them.

Start View as

1. Open Team and permissions.
2. Either select the person under Staff and use the View as [name] card, or select View as… in the bar at the top and pick the person.
3. Write why you're doing it (see below).
4. Select Start View as.

A blue banner then sits across the top of every page: Viewing as [name] ([role]) — read-only, with the minutes left and an Exit button.

Give a reason

The reason is required, and kept in the access log with the session. Be specific enough that the monthly reviewer understands it without asking you:

• Good: "Checking what the Kids leader sees after adding guardian contacts."
• Too vague: "Checking."

The suggested reasons under the box are a quick start; edit them to fit.

Read-only while viewing

While you're viewing as someone, you can't send, test, approve, decline, reveal a contact, download, or change any setting or permission. Those buttons are disabled with "You're viewing as [name] — read-only". There is no way to act in another person's name.

View as also never shows giving, medical, custody, screening or pastoral information, because the person you're viewing as can't see it either.

The 30-minute limit

A session ends by itself after 30 minutes. Select Exit in the banner as soon as you've seen what you need. To look again later, start a new session with its own reason.

What's logged

The Access log in Team and permissions records the start (with who, whom and why), every page you open while viewing, and the end, whether you exited or the time ran out.

Good to know

• Only Super admins can use View as, and only on someone other than themselves.
• In the sandbox, View as and its log stay in your browser.

Top tips

• Open the screen the person asked about first, then exit: short, focused sessions make the log easy to review.
• Pair View as with the What [name] can see card: the card summarises, View as shows the real screens.

Troubleshooting

"Say why." Write a reason of at least a few words before starting.

I don't see View as. It's for Super admins only. Ask a Super admin if you need someone's view checked.