75 Users & Collaborators
One feature in Pressbooks is the ability to work with collaborators, such as editors, co-authors and publishers.
Read on to learn about:
User Roles in Pressbooks
There are several different user types in Pressbooks, each with a different level of access to accommodate the user’s role within the team. Below are each of the user roles, and what they have access to once they’ve been added to a book, listed from most to least access.
Role |
Manage Users & Settings |
Add or Edit Posts |
Publish Posts |
Delete Posts |
Read Posts* |
Comment (if enabled) |
| Administrator | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Editor | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Author | No | Only their own | Only their own | Only their own | Yes | Yes |
| Contributor | No | Only their own | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriber | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
*Authors, Contributors, and Subscribers can only read private posts which have been marked to “Show in Web.”
You can also choose whether all users can view chapters set to ‘Private’, or if they will be limited to Administrators and Editors. To do so:
- Hover over Settings
- Click Sharing & Privacy
- Find Private Content
This settings asks you to choose who can see private front matter, chapters, and back matter. Select either “Only logged in editors and administrators” or “All logged in users including subscribers.”
Different user roles also have access to different interfaces while within Pressbooks. See the chart below for a list of those interfaces each role has access to. Thanks to Lauri M Aesoph at BCcampus for compiling this information.
| Dashboard Link | Administrator | Editor | Author | Contributor | Subscriber |
| Organize | √ | √ | √ | √ | x |
| Private/ Public setting (Organize) | √ | x | x | x | x |
| Book Info | √ | x | x | x | x |
| Appearance | √ | √ (but no “Themes”) | x | x | x |
| Export | √ | √ | √ | √ | x |
| Plugins | √ | x | x | x | x |
| Media | √ | √ | √ | x | x |
| Users | √ | x | x | x | x |
| Tools | √ | √ | √ | √ | x |
| Settings | √ | x | x | x | x |
| Import | √ | √ | √ | √ | x |
Adding Collaborators and Assigning Permissions
You can add existing Pressbooks users to your book, or you can create new users. If you need to add many users at once, consider using the Bulk Add feature. As a network manager, you will always see the ‘Add Users’ option for individual books, and these options will also be visible to ‘book administrators’ if you’ve selected the “Allow Book Administrators to Invite New Users as Collaborators” option in ‘Network Options’. Instructions for using each of the three ‘Add User’ options are included below.
Add Existing User
- Select the Users tab on the left sidebar menu of your book’s dashboard
- Click Add New
- Under Add Existing User, fill in the user’s account email
- Select their role
- Click the “Add Existing User” button
Add New User
- Select the Users tab on the left sidebar menu of your book’s dashboard
- Click Add New
- Under Add New User fil