adding a read only user

Hi Melissa,

Welcome to the Community. I'm here to share some information about the user access rights in QuickBooks Online.

When granting Standard no access or Read-only access, the data they can view will depend on the permission you've set on your settings (see screenshot below). I recommend reviewing the user's permissions and access to determine what data they can view on your account.

Here's how:

1. Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Manage users below Your Company.
3. Find the user.
4. Press Edit.
5. Review the user's access.

User roles are either billable or non-billable. Billable users count toward your user limit, while non-billable users don’t. For more information, I've attached a link you visit for additional reference about user limits for your subscription: User roles and access rights in QuickBooks Online.

Drop me a comment below if you have any other questions about managing user permissions. We'll be happy to help you some more. Take care always.

I am a new QB Online Essentials subscriber and I've been on the phone with support for over 45 minutes and am getting nowhere.

I want to add a new user and give them the ability to see everything but not be able to make any entries or make any changes to existing entries.

Can you give me some guidance because I don't know how to do this.  I know how to add a user but don't know what role to assign them which would be "read only"??  Is it something that's done before they they accept the invitation or after?

I just spent over an hour on the phone with suppoort and they are cluless.  can you help?

in QB online essentials is there a read-only or view-only acess that allows the user to see everything but just not allow them to make entries or changes?

Thanks for joining the thread and posting your concern here in the QuickBooks Community, @dbf22.

This isn't the kind of service we'd want you to experience in QuickBooks. Let me provide insights about user roles in QuickBooks Online Essentials. 

The option to add a new user and give them the ability to see everything but not be able to make any entries or make any changes to existing entries is unavailable in the program. 

For now, there are specific available access you can set for each user in QuickBooks. You can review them here: Learn about the different options for user roles and access permissions.

I can see how this option would be helpful for you in setting up permissions. Therefore, I'll take note of this as a suggestion to improve your experience in the program. 

Moreover, you can personally send feedback to our developers so they can review your request. Here's how to send 

1. Select Settings and click Feedback.
2. Enter your comments or product suggestions. Then, select Next to submit feedback.

You can track feature requests through the QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

For additional reference about managing user roles, please see this resource: Add and manage users in QBO.

Please let me know if you have any additional queries about setting up user access in QuickBooks. I'm always here to help. Have a good one.

View only access would be very helpful.

There haven't been any updates to this discussion in a year and I'm wondering if any progress has been made. I have admins that need to see information in sales and expenses. Right now they have to call me to find out if vendor checks have been mailed or if customer payments have been received. If they could see the information, it would much more efficient.  

We appreciate your effort in revisiting this thread to gather more information about managing users in QuickBooks Online (QBO), abp2.

Currently, the closest role you can assign to your users that allows them to view sales and expense information is the Standard limited customers and vendors role. Let me walk you through a seamless process.

Before anything else, make sure to log in as the Primary Admin before adding users. Here's how:

1. Log in to your QuickBooks Online account
2. Go to the Gear icon and click Manage users.
3. Select Users, then hit the Add user button.
4. Fill in the necessary information.
5. Select Role and then choose Standard limited customers and vendors.
6. Click Send invite.

Once done, you can then inform your staff to accept the invitation they receive via email.

For more information, you can check out this article: User roles and access rights in QuickBooks Online and Intuit Enterprise Suite.

On the other hand, if you're using QBO Advanced, you can also consider adding a custom role to provide more customized roles and permissions: Add and manage custom roles in QuickBooks Online Advanced and Intuit Enterprise Suite.

Moreover, you may also want to visit this resource to learn how to transfer the admin role to another user in QuickBooks: Change the primary admin user in QuickBooks Online.

You can always get back to this thread if you still have further concerns or require additional assistance in managing user roles in QuickBooks. The Community is always open to lend a hand. Have a good one.