Introduction

Users are the employees of your company who use the CRM. Every user has a CRM account with a unique set of login credentials and access to the features included in your plan.

User-employee dependency

The User field in the Employees module is used to identify employees who are CRM users.

When you create a user in Vtiger CRM, an employee record is automatically created for the user, and the User field is enabled.

However, when you create an employee, no user record is created. Thus, the User field is not enabled.

To learn more about Employees in Vtiger CRM, click here.

Feature Availability

Important Fields in Users

To learn about the other fields in Users, click here.

Adding a User

You can add users to the CRM only if you are an Admin user or the CRM account owner. 

Follow these steps to add a user:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the +Add User button.
7. Enter the following information:
   1. User Information - User’s primary information such as username, password, group, user type, etc.
   2. Employee Information - User’s work-related name, primary email, department, phone number, etc.
   3. User Address - User’s address information that includes details such as street, city, state, etc. 
   4. Currency and Number Preferences - User’s currency-related details such as preferred currency, digit grouping pattern, symbol placement, etc.
   5. Phone Preferences - User’s phone extension number for incoming and outgoing calls
   6. Business Hours - User’s business hours
   7. Vtiger Usage Preferences -Other usage-related preferences such as default login page, default record view, etc.
   8. Signature - User’s signature to be included at the end of emails
8. Click Save.

To learn more about the user information mentioned above, click here.

Email verification of new users

Email verification, in general, helps you clean up your email list by validating email addresses to improve deliverability. By verifying emails in Vtiger, you can avoid spoofing and prevent emails from landing in the spam folder.

When you add a user and click Save, a verification email is sent to the email addresses mentioned in the Username and Primary Email fields. Users must click the verification link in the email to be able to send emails from Vtiger. 

Changing the Username 

If a user’s username is no longer in use, then it can be changed. As an Admin user, you can change the username in a few simple steps. 

Follow these steps to change the username:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Hover over the user whose username you want to change.
7. Click the More icon.
8. Choose the Change Username option.
9. Enter the new username and password. Confirm the password.
10. Click Save.

After saving, you must verify the new username.

10. Open the user record with the new username.
11. Click the exclamation mark beside the Username field.
12. Click the Click here link in the tooltip.

There’s also an alternative way to change a user’s username: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the user record whose username you want to change.
7. Click the More icon on the top right corner of the user record. 
8. Select the Change Username option.
9. Enter the new username, password, and confirmed password. 
10. Click Save.

A verification email is sent to the new email address in the Username field. The user must click the verification link in the email to verify the new username.

Changing the Password

As an Admin user, you can change your password as well as other users’. 

Follow these steps to change the password:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Hover over the user whose password you want to change.
7. Click the Change Password icon.
8. Enter the new password and confirmation password.
9. Click Save.

There’s also an alternative way to change a user’s password: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the user record whose password you want to change.
7. Click the More icon on the top right corner of the user record. 
8. Select the Change Password option.
9. Enter the new password and confirmed password. 
10. Click Save.

Changing the Access Key

Access Key is a unique security token generated automatically when a user is created. It is used for authentication in REST APIs/Web Services.

Follow these steps to change a user’s access key:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the user record whose access key you want to change.
7. Click the More icon on the top right corner of the user record. 
8. Select the Change Access Key option.
9. Click Yes to confirm.

After your access key is updated, you must replace the old access key with the new one in all the extensions that you use.

Logging in as Another User

Follow these steps to log in as another user:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Hover over the user that you want to go in as.
7. Click the Log in as (User) icon.
8. Click Yes to confirm.
9. Choose your preferences such as country, time zone, language, etc.
   • These preferences can be changed after logging in.
10. Click Finish.

Importing Users

If you have a users’ list on your local computer and you want to add them as users in the CRM, you can simply import the list. Imported users can log in to the CRM after the import is successful, using their username and password.

You can import users using two methods.

Alternative 1: Importing users from Settings > Users

Follow these steps to import users into Vtiger CRM:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the Import button located on top of the Users page.
7. Upload a CSV file:
   1. Click Select File from Computer.
   2. Browse through your computer and select a file.
   3. Enable the Source file has a header checkbox if your CSV file has a header column.
   4. Choose the type of character encoding.
   5. Choose a delimiter. The delimiter separates items in the CSV file.
   6. Click Next.
8. Set up field mapping:
   1. Map the fields in your CSV file to the CRM fields.
   2. Click Import.

Alternative 2: Importing users from the Main Menu > Import module

Follow these steps to import users into Vtiger CRM:

Step 1: Go to the Import screen

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Tools.
4. Select Import.
   • If you do not see the Import module, contact your CRM admin to enable the module or give you access to it.
5. Click +New Import.

Step 2: Select a file to import under the Select File tab

5. Enter a title for the import process.
6. Select the Users module from the Select Module drop-down.
7. Select the format of the file you want to import under Select File Format? 
8. Enable the Has Header checkbox if applicable.
   • Note: Headers are column names in your local file. They make mapping column values to CRM fields easy.
9. Choose a Character Encoding type.
   • Note: Make sure the Character Encoding matches the one selected in the local file.
10. Choose a delimiter.
    • Note: Delimiter is the character that separates fields in your local file. The CRM identifies different fields with the help of the delimiter.  
11. Click the Choose file button to select a CSV file to import.
12. Click Next.

Step 3: Set up field mapping 

13. Map Column Name in your local file to CRM Field in the CRM. 
14. Provide a Default Value for fields.

Note: Default values are used when the value of a field is empty. In such cases, Vtiger CRM picks up the field’s default value.

15. Click the Next button.
16. Click the Start Import button.
17. Click the Finish button.
    • You can click the Import More button to import more users.

To learn more about importing records into Vtiger CRM, click here.

Exporting Users

Exporting is the process of transferring a copy of data from the CRM to your local computer. 

Follow these steps to export users:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the Export button located on top of the Users page.

All the users (active and inactive) are exported to your local computer in a .csv file. 

Changing CRM Account Ownership

Follow these steps to transfer account ownership:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the Customize dropdown on the top right corner.
7. Select the Change Owner option.
8. Select the user to whom you want to transfer the account ownership.
9. Click Save.

Account owners can be identified by the icon below when you hover on their user record: 

Suspending a User

To suspend a user means to temporarily terminate their access to the CRM. 

Here is what happens when you suspend a user:

• They are marked as inactive.
• They cannot log in to their CRM account.
• New records cannot be assigned to them.
• Billing will stop for the user.

Follow these steps to suspend a user:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Hover on the user that you want to suspend.
7. Click the More icon.
8. Select the Suspend User option.
9. Click Yes to confirm.

If the user being suspended has reportees, then you must transfer their reportees to another user. When you do this, the Reports To field in the reportees’ user records is set to the newly selected user’s name.

10. Select a user from the Transfer Reports To user dropdown to transfer the reportees to them.

When you are suspending a user, you must transfer the records that are assigned to them to another user.

11. Enable the Transfer all records checkbox.
12. Choose which records you want to transfer by selecting modules from the Select modules field.
13. Select a user from the Transfer records to this user dropdown to transfer records to them.
14. Enable the Transfer closed records checkbox if you want to transfer closed records as well.
15. Click Save.

Reactivating a user

Follow these steps to reactivate a suspended user:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the Inactive Users tab. 
7. Hover over the user that you want to reactivate.
8. Click the More icon.
9. Select the Reactivate User option.
10. Click Yes to confirm.

Records that were transferred from a suspended user to another user are not transferred back. 

Permanently Deleting a User 

You might want to permanently delete a user when they no longer use the CRM. However, to delete a user, you must first suspend them.

Skip to this section to learn how to suspend a user.

Follow these steps to delete a user after suspending them:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Look for the User Management section.
5. Select Users.
6. Click the Inactive Users tab. 
7. Hover over the user that you want to delete.
8. Click the More icon.
9. Select the Delete user permanently option.
10. Click Yes to confirm. 

If the user being deleted has reportees, then you must transfer their reportees to another user. When you do this, the Reports To field in the reportees’ user records is set to the newly selected user’s name.

11. Select a user from the Transfer Reports To user dropdown to transfer the reportees to them.

When you are deleting a user, you must transfer the records that are assigned to them to another user. 

12. Enable the Transfer all records checkbox.
13. Choose which records you want to transfer by selecting modules from the Select modules field.
14. Select a user from the Transfer records to this user dropdown to transfer records to them.
15. Enable the Transfer closed records checkbox if you want to transfer closed records as well.
16. Click Save.

Troubleshooting Tips

1. You cannot import users of type Single App and Light Agent unless there atleast one standard user in the CRM.
2. Import fails if the User Type and Role Type information do not match. To learn about Roles in Vtiger CRM, click here.
3. You cannot import a record (even a lead, contact, or organization) whose owner (specified in the Assigned To field) or co-owner (specified in the Co-owner field) is a user of type Light Agent.
4. A user can report only to Standard and Admin users.
5. Users of type Light Agent cannot have subordinate users.
6. To change a user with a higher profile to a Light Agent user, you must transfer the records of the user to another user.