FAQ — User can’t access something they should be able to

User says “I can’t see X” or “I get permission denied on Y.” Five things to check.

1. Does their role actually grant the permission?

Open the user’s profile. Note the role(s) they have. Open Settings → Roles & Permissions and look at those roles’ permission lists.

The permission they’re trying to use must be toggled on in at least one of their roles. If the role’s category page shows the permission as off, that’s the cause.

Fix: enable the permission on the role, OR assign the user a role that already includes it.

2. Are they on the right tenant?

If your team uses multiple tenants (e.g., production + sandbox), the user may have access to one but not the other. Each tenant has its own user list, role assignments, and permissions.

Fix: have them check the tenant indicator in the UI (typically top-right). Confirm they’re in the tenant where the role is assigned. If they need access to a different tenant, that’s a separate user-invite in that tenant.

3. Has the permission change propagated?

Permission changes take effect on the user’s next page load or session refresh. If you just changed their role and they’re still seeing the old behavior, it’s likely a session that hasn’t refreshed.

Fix: have them sign out and sign back in. If the issue persists past that, it’s not a propagation problem — investigate further.

4. Are multiple roles colliding?

Permissions are union-based — having more roles always grants more access, never less. So multiple roles can’t reduce access. BUT if the user has a custom role with restrictive defaults, the issue is that none of their assigned roles grants the specific permission. Look at the union, not just the highest-tier role.

Fix: confirm at least one of their roles includes the specific permission they’re missing.

5. Is the feature feature-flagged or beta-gated?

A few features in Atender are gated by tenant-level feature flags or beta access:

• Cases — feature-flagged. Even with full Cases permissions, the module won’t appear if the flag is off.
• Beta features — gated by per-user hasBetaAccess toggle.
• Tenant subscription tier — some features (e.g., advanced analytics, custom domains, data warehouse) require specific subscription levels.

Fix: check Settings → Feature Flags (if available to admins) for feature gating, and the user’s profile for beta access. If a feature requires a subscription level you don’t have, that’s outside the role/permission system entirely.

Less common causes

The user has multiple accounts

Sometimes a user signed up with two different email addresses and has different roles on each account. They may be logged in as the wrong one.

Fix: check which email they’re logged in with vs. which email you assigned the role to.

Browser caching

Rare but possible — the browser cached a stale JS bundle from before the permission change.

Fix: hard refresh (Cmd-Shift-R on Mac, Ctrl-Shift-R on Windows). If they’re using Chrome/Firefox, that should bypass cache.

Permission name confusion

Some permissions sound similar but cover different things (e.g., “edit conversation tags” vs “manage tag taxonomy”). Make sure the permission you’re toggling is actually the one related to the feature.

Fix: read the permission’s tooltip or description carefully. The permission categories reference lists what each covers.

Diagnostic flow

When a user reports missing access:

1. What specifically can’t they do? (specific button, page, action)
2. What role(s) do they have?
3. Does that role include the permission for the action?
4. Did they sign out and back in after the role assignment?
5. Is the feature flagged on for the tenant?
6. Are they on the right tenant?

Walk through this in order. The cause is almost always one of the first three.

See also

• What are Roles and Permissions?
• Permission categories reference
• Assign a role to a user