Permission sets

In Salesforce, users have only one profile, but sometimes you're required to assign more than one profile to users based upon business requirements. A permission set is a group of settings and permissions that gives users access to various apps and functions. The settings and permissions in permission sets are similar to those in profiles, but it extends users' functional access without changing their profiles.

Let's start with an example. Sara Bareilles (Profile - TL) is working as a team lead in Appiuss and her manager Rakesh Gupta (Profile - PM) is going on leave for a week, so Sara is responsible for Rakesh Gupta's work. As both of them have different profiles, Sara Bareilles does not have the access that Rakesh Gupta has; in this case, you can use permission sets.

Settings available under permission sets

Through permission sets, you can manage access for the following settings:

  • Assigned apps: This allows you to specify the apps that are visible to users
  • Object settings: These include the following:
    • Tab settings
    • Record type settings
    • Object permissions
    • Field permissions
  • App permissions: This helps you to define access for permissions to perform app-specific actions
  • Apex class and Visualforce page access: This defines the Apex classes and Visualforce pages that users can access
  • System permissions: This allows you to define permissions to perform actions that apply across apps such as Modify All Data
  • Service providers: This is only available if you've enabled Salesforce as an identity provider

Creating permission sets

To create permission sets, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Setup | Administer | Manage Users | Permission Sets.
  2. Click on New.
  3. A new page will open. To create permission sets, enter data in the Label, API Name, and Description fields, and select User License from the drop-down list.
  4. Click on Save.

Deleting permission sets

To delete permission sets, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Setup | Administer | Manage Users | Permission Sets.
  2. Identify the permission sets that you want to delete and click on the Del link.
  3. You will be asked for confirmation. Click on OK if you want to delete it and Salesforce will delete the permission set.

    Note

    Once you delete a permission set, you can't restore it.

Cloning permission sets

To clone permission sets, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Setup | Administer | Manage Users | Permission Sets.
  2. Identify the permission sets that you want to clone.
  3. Click on the Clone link.
  4. You will be redirected to a new page where you have to enter data in the Label, API Name, and Description fields.
  5. Click on Save.