How to customize user profiles in Business Central?
In this video, I will show you how you can edit or create new profiles, for example, for new colleagues.
This is what happens in the video
Business Central lets you create new user profiles by copying an existing one and adjusting it to fit a specific role. If you need a simpler version of the Sales Order Processor profile for new colleagues, you can copy it, rename it, and remove the menus and actions they don’t need.
You find profiles through the Tell Me search. Copy an existing profile, give the new one a description, and edit it directly from the Role Center using personalization.
In the profile settings you control three things: whether the profile is the default for new users, whether users are allowed to personalize their Role Center, and whether the profile shows up in the role explorer so colleagues can select it.
Once you publish the profile, it becomes available to everyone logging into the database.
Creating a new profile based on an existing one
The fastest way to build a new profile is to base it on one that already works. In this example, the starting point is the Sales Order Processor profile, which gives access to six different groups of functionality in the navigation.
Go to the Tell Me search and look up Profiles. Find the Sales Order Processor and copy it. Then create the new profile as a Junior Sales Order Processor.
Open the new profile and edit it. Here you can change the description to reflect that this profile has reduced functionality compared to the original.
Profile settings: default, personalization, and role explorer
Each profile has a Role Center ID and a setting that enables or disables it. In the profile settings you also control how the profile behaves for users:
- Use as default profile: Every new user automatically gets this profile when they log in.
- Disable personalization: Users are not allowed to change any personalization in the Role Center.
- Show in role explorer: The profile becomes visible to all colleagues, so they can select it themselves.
Customizing the Role Center by hiding menus and actions
You edit the profile by customizing the pages directly. Open the Role Center for the Junior Sales Order Processor. You can confirm which profile you are working on in the left-hand corner, where it also shows that the profile is based on the Sales Order Processor.
From here you can hide menus and actions that the junior role doesn’t need. You can also go into further pages and change them, but it’s fine to keep the changes focused on the Role Center.
When you’re done customizing, choose Done and close the window.
Verifying the result
After saving, switch from your old Role Center to the new one. You’ll see that many of the shortcuts in the navigation menu are gone, along with some of the actions you removed.
If you open the navigation menu, the Junior Sales Order Processor now shows only five different groups of functionality instead of the original six. The new profile is now available to everyone logging into the database.
Q&A
How do I create a new user profile in Business Central?
Go to the Tell Me search and look up Profiles. Find an existing profile that’s close to what you need, copy it, give the new profile a name and description, then edit it to fit the role.
How do I make a profile the default for new users?
Open the profile settings and enable “Use as default profile.” Every new user then automatically gets this profile when they log in.
Can I prevent users from changing their own Role Center?
Yes. In the profile settings, disable personalization. Users are then not allowed to change any personalization in that Role Center.
How do I make a profile selectable for my colleagues?
Enable “Show in role explorer” in the profile settings. The profile then becomes visible to all colleagues so they can select it.
How do I remove menus and actions from a profile?
Open the Role Center for the profile and customize the pages directly. You can hide the menus and actions a role doesn’t need, then choose Done to save.