Wrike has multiple layers of access control, licence types, sharing, and access roles, and the distinction between them is necessary for how you manage what people can and cannot do in your account.
Access roles control what users can do within a specific space, folder, or project, regardless of their general licence type.
The four access roles
Full access: Users can share items, tag work, add comments, attach files, create tasks and folders and projects, edit descriptions, and change statuses. This is the highest level of access within a shared area.
Editor: The main restriction compared to Full is that editors cannot share, tag, or delete tasks, folders, and projects. They can do most of the active work but cannot restructure or distribute items.
Limited: Users cannot create, share, tag, or delete tasks, folders, and projects. They can view and interact with existing content but cannot add new structure.
Read-only: Users can only view content. No modifications of any kind.
Access roles are available on Business and Enterprise subscription plans. For organisations on lower tiers, licence type and sharing settings are the primary tools for controlling access.
How access roles work with spaces and folders
Access roles are applied at the space level. Setting a user’s access role on a space means that role is inherited by all folders and projects within that space.
Two rules govern how inherited roles can be adjusted. A user can be given a higher access role on a specific folder or project than they have on the space. For example, a user with Limited access to the space can be given Full access to a specific project they are leading. A user cannot be given a lower access role on a folder or project than they have on the space. The space-level role is the floor.
On Enterprise subscriptions, inherited sharing can be turned off for specific folders or projects when stricter separation is needed.
User groups and access roles
Access roles can be assigned to user groups rather than individuals. When a group has a specific access level on a folder, individual members of that group can be upgraded to a higher level for that folder. Individual group members cannot be downgraded below the group’s access level. The group’s role is the floor for its members.
A department with Limited access to a shared project space but a department lead who needs Full access means setting the group to Limited and the lead individually to Full.
Custom access roles
Enterprise subscription admins can create and customize access roles beyond the four defaults. This is useful for cases where the standard roles are either too permissive or too restrictive for a specific group.
The number of custom roles available depends on your Wrike plan. Your account owner will have accurate information on this since it can change.