Profiles are a way to customize the overall experience of a Salesforce user. Profiles are used to decide the data security by granting object-level permissions and field-level security that decides which fields need to be shown to which specific set of users. Profiles have certain rules or settings that we can set in order to grant or restrict a set of user permissions. The role decides record-level access in Salesforce and the profile decides what users can see in those records, as well as which actions the user can perform.
There are two types of profile in Salesforce:
- Standard: Profiles which come with standard CRM when you purchase a new Salesforce organization. You cannot delete these profiles.
- Custom: Custom profiles are profiles that we create by cloning the existing Salesforce standard profiles.
The major difference between both the profiles lies in their applicable permissions and settings; administrative permissions, general user permissions, object-level permissions, and the Password Never Expires setting can't be applied to the standard profile. You can only delete a custom profile when users are not assigned to it.
The following is list of a few important standard profiles available in Salesforce:
|
Profile |
Description |
|
System Administrator |
System administrators have full access to Salesforce. They are allowed to configure and customize the application. |
|
Standard Platform User |
These users are allowed to use custom apps developed by the organization or installed from AppExchange and the main functionality of the platform. |
|
Standard Platform One App User |
Users with this profile can access one custom app developed in your organization or one installed from AppExchange. The custom app is limited to five tabs. In addition, they can use core platform functionality such as accounts, contacts, reports, dashboards, and custom tabs. |
|
Standard User |
Users with this profile are allowed to create and edit most major types of record, run reports, and view the organization's setup. They can view, but not manage, campaigns. They can also create, but not review, solutions. They can edit personal quotas and override forecasts. |
|
Partner User |
Users are only allowed to log in from a partner portal. |
|
Marketing User |
Users can manage campaigns, import leads, create letterheads, create HTML e-mail templates, manage public documents, and update the campaign history via the import wizards. They can also act as a standard user. |
|
Contract Manager |
Users are allowed to create, edit, activate, and approve contracts. This profile can also delete contracts as long as they are not activated. They can edit personal quotas and override forecasts. |
|
Chatter Only User |
Only allowed to log in to Chatter. Allowed access to all standard Chatter features: people, profiles, groups, and files. Additionally, they can view Salesforce accounts and contacts, use Salesforce CRM content, ideas, and answers, and modify up to 10 custom objects. |
|
Chatter Free User |
Only allowed to log in to Chatter. Can access all standard Chatter features: people, profiles, groups, and files. Only available with the Chatter Free user license. |
|
Chatter External User |
Allowed to only log in to Chatter and access groups they've been invited to. They are allowed to interact with members of only those groups. Only available with the Chatter external user license. |
|
Site.com Only User |
Can only log in to the Site.com app. |
|
High-Volume Customer Portal And Authenticated Website (both user licenses are high-volume portal users) |
Can log in only from a customer portal. |
|
Solution Manager |
Users with this profile are allowed to review and publish solutions. They can also act as a standard user. |
|
Read Only |
Users with this profile can view all records, but cannot edit them. |
It is always best practice to create a new profile by cloning it from a Read Only profile, because a read only profile comes with minimum permissions and it's easy to add or remove such permission.