Managing access across multiple sites? If your district has multiple Edlio websites, each access level can be set independently per site. See Grant Multisite Access to a user for the multisite context, prerequisites, and revoke flow.
đĄ Best-Practice Adoption Tip â Role Governance: Maintain a strict rule of 1 to 2 Super Administrators per school or district. Routine day-to-day site managers, department heads, and communications coordinators should be designated as Website Administrators. This ensures central IT keeps control over account provisioning while delegating full daily publishing authority.
Overview
The Edlio CMS provides different site-wide access levels to help you manage responsibilities, safeguard district settings, and focus users on their specific website areas. This article explains the various user site-wide access types, role capabilities, and privilege elevation rules.
User Site-wide Access Levels
1. Admin-Level Access
Super Administrators
Available on websites purchased from August 2023 onwards (and legacy sites upgraded to Multiple Super Admins).
Can add, edit, disable, and delete both Super Administrator and Website Administrator accounts.
Have the exclusive ability to grant Multisite Management (MSM) access across connected district sites from the district dashboard.
Possess full editing authority across all website sections, global settings, security features, and theme options.
Should be strictly limited to trusted district IT and communications leads.
Legacy Admin Access
For websites purchased before August 2023 that have not upgraded to Multiple Super Admins.
Identified by the hardcoded username "admin".
The only account that can manage Website Administrators on legacy configurations.
Otherwise possesses the same sitewide publishing privileges as Website Administrators.
Note: The legacy "admin" account cannot use Multisite Management. Contact Edlio Support to enable Multiple Super Admins for cross-site access.
2. Website Administrators
Trusted team members who manage the entire website, site navigation, global settings, and standard staff accounts.
Privilege boundaries: Website Administrators cannot elevate accounts to Super Admin, cannot edit or delete other Website Administrators, and cannot grant Multisite (MSM) access.
To designate a Website Administrator: A Super Administrator must navigate to Site Management > User Management, open the user's profile, go to the Site Access tab, and select Website Administrator under Site-wide Access.
Super administrator visibility: By default, Website Administrators see Super Administrators in the User Management list. If your district prefers that Website Administrators do not see Super Administrator accounts, Edlio can enable the Hide Super Administrators setting under Settings > Security. When enabled, Super Administrators remain hidden from Website Administrators (Super Administrators can still see each other), while Website Administrators continue to manage Standard and Minimal Access users as usual. Contact Edlio Support to request this configuration.
3. Standard User Accounts
The default account type for school faculty, teachers, coaches, and staff.
Limited to authoring and updating content only within their explicitly assigned Categories & Sections (e.g., their classroom, department page, or athletic team).
Cannot modify global site navigation, header/footer settings, or site-wide options.
Can be granted modular access to specific news categories, media photo albums, or calendar feeds via the Additional Access tab.
4. Minimal Access User Accounts
Cannot log in to the administrative CMS dashboard or create/edit website content.
Ideal for staff members who only need to be listed in the public Staff Directory without managing pages.
Can also be enrolled as authorized members to view private, staff-only Password-Protected Areas on the public website.
Permissions Comparison
Each site-wide access type has specific capabilities and security boundaries:
Common Access Scenarios & Troubleshooting
Why is the Save button grayed out or not working? When creating or updating a user's privileges, the Save button remains disabled if any required fields are missing or invalid across any of the profile tabs (check for orange notification dots on Profile, Site Access, or Categories & Sections). Common causes include non-compliant passwords (failing complexity requirements or matching prohibited terms), invalid email formats, or duplicate usernames.
Why can't a Website Administrator elevate a colleague to Web Admin? Only Super Administrators have permission to assign or modify Website Administrator roles. If a Web Admin attempts to edit another admin, the role dropdown is locked or disabled.
User cannot sign in after role change: Ensure the user's account is marked Active (not Disabled) in User Management, and verify whether Single Sign-On (Google / Microsoft Azure) is enabled. If SSO is active, the CMS email address must exactly match the user's Google or Microsoft organizational email.
Best Practices
Change default passwords immediately upon account creation.
Limit Super Administrators to 1â2 key district personnel.
Limit Website Administrators to 3â5 trusted site leaders per school.
Delegate site sections appropriately (department chairs, club advisors, coaches, teachers) using Standard User permissions.
Use unique, official school email addresses for all accounts (mandatory for receiving password reset emails and contact form inquiries).