Create and edit user roles

Roles are comprised of user role permissions. They control what users can see and do in your network. You can associate built-in roles with a user account, or you can create custom roles and associate those with a user account.

Note that a user can only be associated with one role at a time. Learn how to assign users to a role. 

Built-in user roles

Built-in user roles cover the most common permission configurations. These roles are not editable. They are sometimes updated as new products or features are released.

To review the built-in user roles:

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Access & authorization, and then Roles.
3. Click Add new filter, then Built-in, then Yes, and then Apply.

The built-in user roles are:

• Ad Exchange manager: Ad Exchange managers have access to Ad Exchange functionality, but not Ad Manager. This role might not be available for your network.

• Administrator: Administrators have full access to all functionality.

• Administrator (Ad Manager only): Administrators for Ad Manager only have full access to all functionality in Ad Manager, other than Ad Exchange.
• Advertiser: Invited advertisers can check the progress of their orders.
• Executive: Executives can run reports and evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns through read-only access to all functionality.
• Legal manager: Legal managers can view and edit users, roles, and teams, as well as access and accept the Ad Manager payment contract when completing the self-serve billing setup. They do not have access to any other Ad Manager functionality.
  The contract permissions tied to the Legal manager role can also be added to any custom role created by an Administrator. Ensure that only users authorized to sign up for contracts are added to custom roles with this permission.
• Sales manager: Sales managers can create orders, approve orders, cancel orders, edit targeting criteria, and run reports on orders, sales, and inventory.
• Salesperson: Salespeople can create orders, manage orders, and run reports on orders they create.
• Trafficker: Traffickers can create orders, edit orders, edit line items, upload creatives, and run reports on orders and creatives.

Custom user roles

Administrators can set up custom roles with a set of permissions to fit user needs. You can set the status of custom roles to active or inactive. 

To create or edit a user role, your own user role must have the "Edit users and roles" permission. The "Ad Exchange" permission is required to create and edit user roles with any of the Ad Exchange in Ad Manager permissions.

Good to know about custom roles

• When creating a custom role, you have the option to copy permissions from another existing role as a starting point. After copying permissions, you can add or remove permissions as needed.
• Note that if any new permissions are added to Ad Manager, you will need to add them manually to your custom user roles. New permissions are not added automatically to custom user roles.

Create a custom user role

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Access & authorization, and then Roles.
3. Click New role.
4. Enter a name for the role and a description.
5. (Optional) To use the permissions of an existing role as a starting point for your custom role, under "Copy permissions from role," click Type to search and select the role you want to use. 
6. Under each category, check the box next to the permissions you want to include with the role.
   Tip: To check or uncheck all the boxes in a category, next to "Select," click All or None.
7. Click Save.

Edit a custom user role​

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Access & authorization, and then Roles.
3. Click the name of the role you'd like to edit.
4. Edit the name, description, and selected permissions.
   Learn more about permissions.
5. Click Save.

Deactivate a custom user role

Mark a user role you no longer need as "inactive" to hide it from the list of user roles and ensure no new users are assigned. This setting doesn’t affect users already assigned to the user role, and can be reversed by marking the user role as "active." Only custom user roles can be deactivated.​

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Access & authorization, and then Roles.
   Under "Status," you can check the current status of a role. 
3. (Optional) To filter for active roles, click Add new filter, then Status, then Active, and then Apply.
4. Click the name of the role you'd like to deactivate.
5. To deactivate the role, in the top-right corner, click Active and select Inactive.
   Changes are saved and applied immediately.

Re-activate a custom user role​

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Access & authorization, and then Roles.
   Under "Status," you can check the current status of a role.
3. (Optional) To filter for inactive roles, click Add new filter, then Status, then Inactive, and then Apply.
4. Click the name of the role you'd like to re-activate.
5. To activate the user role, in the top-right corner, click Inactive and select Active.
   Changes are saved and applied immediately.