Impersonate a user (master admin)

Overview

When a user reports that a page looks wrong, or you want to check what a role can really see, a master admin can impersonate that user. For the length of the session you use the app exactly as they do: the same menus, the same Roles & Permissions overrides and the same properties, tenants and invoices. The server enforces this, so you can never see or do more than the user can.

You never need the user's password, and your own admin session is kept aside, ready for when you exit.

Before you start

• Only a master admin, signed in as themself, can impersonate. A role that was granted extra permissions cannot.
• You can impersonate any active landlord, tenant, supervisor or CA. You cannot impersonate yourself, another master admin, or an inactive or merged account.
• Have a reason ready. It is recorded with the session.

Steps

Start a session

1. Open Administration → Users.
2. In the user's row, open the ⋮ menu and choose Impersonate…. You can also pick a user from your account menu (top right) → Impersonate a user….
3. Enter the reason (5 to 500 characters), for example "Tenant says the March invoice is missing from their portal".
4. Leave the mode as Read-only unless you must make a change for the user. For Read & write, tick the box confirming that changes will be made as this user.
5. Confirm. The app reloads as the user, with a banner across the top showing who you are viewing as, the mode and when the session ends.

Exit

1. Click Exit impersonation in the banner (or in your account menu). The session ends straight away and you are back in your own admin session.
2. If the session times out first, the next action shows that it has ended and returns you to your admin session.

What is limited during a session

• Read-only (the default): you can open every page and report the user can, but saving, deleting, importing and sending are refused.
• Read & write: changes are allowed and are recorded as made by the user and by you.
• Always blocked, even in read & write: the user's sign-in and account details (role, activation, invites, account deletion), Roles & Permissions, the digital signing certificate, Telegram links and push subscriptions, Income Tax and GST portal OTPs, passwords and consent, tax-report share links, integration keys, and starting another impersonation.

Expiry

A session lasts 30 minutes by default. Your administrator can set it between 5 and 240 minutes. It cannot be extended: start a new session with a fresh reason.

Audit

Every session records the admin, the user, the reason, the mode, and when it started and ended (or expired). During the session every change, every export or download and every refused action is logged against the session and attributed to you, never to the user alone. Audit-trail and field-history entries for changes made during a session are marked as made by you while impersonating.

Example

A tenant of Lakeview Plaza, Unit 4, says the rent ledger shows a payment twice. The master admin opens Administration → Users, chooses Impersonate… on the tenant, enters the reason "Checking duplicate payment on the Unit 4 ledger" and keeps Read-only. The admin sees the same ledger the tenant sees, finds that two receipts were uploaded for one payment, clicks Exit impersonation, and removes the duplicate from his own admin session. The session shows as ended, with no changes made.

FAQs

Will the user know?

Nothing is sent to the user. The session is visible to master admins in the audit trail.

Can I impersonate another master admin?

No. Master admins cannot be impersonated.