About Light Users
A light user is a Help Scout user role that has limited access and permissions. This role is able to view information and collaborate with your team in Help Scout, but cannot interact directly with customers. This article explains how the role works.
Light users are available on the Plus and Pro plans. The Account Owner and Administrators can manage this role.
In this article
Permissions and Restrictions
A light user has a default set of permissions as well as some additional ones that the Account Owner or Administrator can enable. Here's an overview of the permissions and restrictions for this role:
| Light Users can ✅ | Light Users cannot ❌ | |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox | View conversations (including attachments) | Reply or schedule replies to conversations |
| View customer and company profiles | Edit customer and company profiles | |
| Add, edit and delete their own notes only | Edit or delete notes by other users | |
| Follow conversations | Be assigned to a conversation | |
| View and interact with apps in the sidebar | Change the status or assignment of a conversation | |
| Use AI Summarize | Move a conversation | |
| Manually forward a conversation into Help Scout | Forward a conversation out of Help Scout | |
| Edit, delete or merge conversations | ||
| Snooze a conversation | ||
| Run a manual workflow | ||
| Create a new conversation or draft | ||
| Change customer on a conversation | ||
| Edit custom fields on a conversation | ||
| Be available for or reply to live chats | ||
| Edit tags on a conversation | ||
| Docs | View articles | Edit Docs sites, articles, categories, or collections |
| Messages & Beacon | Create, edit and delete Messages & Beacons * |
|
| Reports | View reports | |
| Export reports * | ||
| Manage report views * | ||
| Others | Access the API or apps | |
| Be on a team | ||
| Mange any account settings | ||
| Access the mobile app |
* When permission is enabled.
Change an Existing User to a Light User
When changing a user role to a light user role, the above restrictions will apply to their profile. They will also be unassigned from conversations and removed from any teams they were a part of.
Light Users on Your Plan
Light users are available on the Plus and Pro plans only. If your account is on the Standard plan, you can upgrade to the Plus or Pro plans, then change your existing users to light users.
How many light users are included in my plan?
Your Help Scout plan is either User-based or Contact-based. Light user inclusions are a little different depending on which plan you have. Not sure which plan you're on? Check out the Plan Overview page in your account or reach out to our support team to learn more.
User-based plans
For user-based plans, your Plan overview page will look like this:
- The Plus plan includes up to 25 lights users at no additional cost
- The Pro plan includes up to 50 light users at no additional cost
- You can purchase additional light users as an add-on to both plans.
Contact-based plans
For Contact-based plans, your Plan overview page will look like this:
The Contact-based Plus and Pro plans include unlimited light users at no additional cost.
Use Cases
There are multiple cases where you might want to have light users but here are just some examples you may find helpful.
- A Product Management or Engineering team can be light users so they can read past conversations to view customer feedback or learn about bugs.
- A Finance team can help the Support team with their billing-related conversations by leaving helpful notes.
- New team members on a Support team can be light users while they go through their training. They can leave notes and view conversations, without the risk of accidentally sending a customer reply.
Still have questions? Let us know what you're wondering about!