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# View as: see the panel and slicer the way a student, group or member does

**View as** lets you see the panel and the slicer the way a student, a user group or one member sees them, while you stay signed in as yourself. A teacher can put the class's view on the projector and walk through the slicer exactly as the students will see it. An administrator can check what a group sees right after changing its permissions.

View as is display only. It changes what the panel shows you, never what you are allowed to do, and it never gives you more access than you already have.

|| View as is part of the plans with multiple users: **Print Farm**, **School** and **Enterprise**. Workgroups on top of a base role need the School or Enterprise plan.

## Table of contents
- [What View as does, and what it doesn't](#2-what-view-as-does-and-what-it-doesnt)
- [Who can use View as](#2-who-can-use-view-as)
- [Starting View as](#2-starting-view-as)
- [Viewing as a group](#2-viewing-as-a-group)
- [Viewing as a person](#2-viewing-as-a-person)
- [While you are viewing as someone](#2-while-you-are-viewing-as-someone)
- [Pages the group can't open](#2-pages-the-group-cant-open)
- [Stopping View as](#2-stopping-view-as)

## What View as does, and what it doesn't
While View as is on, the panel is drawn with the chosen group's permissions:
- the sidebar and the pages they can open
- the buttons and menus they see
- the printers they can see
- the slicer, with the settings and tools their group has locked, and the slicer profiles they can pick
- the settings pages they are offered
- the Academy, as a teacher or not (on schools)

It is not a way to sign in as someone else:
- **You stay yourself.** Your files, prints, print history, queue items, quota and notifications stay yours. When you view as a person, you don't see their files, prints or messages.
- **Everything you do still uses your own permissions.** A print you start while viewing as Student is your print, started with your permissions. View as only changes what the panel shows.
- **You never get more than you have.** If the group can do something you can't, it stays off while you view as it.

| Some pages show your own data even while you view as a group, for example your folders, projects and dashboards. Their buttons and menus still follow the group's permissions. View as is only in the panel in your browser, not in the mobile app or on the Hub.

## Who can use View as
You need the **View as another group or member** permission. It is in the **Users** category when you edit a user group. See [User groups and permissions: what each one controls](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/user-groups-and-permissions-what-each-one-controls-1284ueh/).

The groups that run the account, manage user groups or teach get it by default. On the default groups that is Administrator, Teacher, Specialist, Manager, Operator and Engineer. Students and members don't have it. The account owner can always use it.

You can view as:
- **Your own base role or any base role below it.** Base roles are ordered from most to least access, the same order that decides who can manage whom. A role above your own is shown greyed out with "This role is above your own". The account owner can pick any role.
- **Any workgroup.** Workgroups have no order, so you can add any of them.
- **A member you can already see.** If you can see the Users page, that is everyone. A teacher who can't see the Users page can pick the people in their classes.

It also works when you are the only member so far, for example a teacher who has just set up the account. You can view as a group before anyone has joined it.

## Starting View as
There are three ways in, and they all open the same window:
1. **The account menu.** Click your name or picture at the top right, then **View as…**.
2. **Settings → Organization → Base roles & workgroups** (if you can manage user groups). Click the eye button on a row (**View as this group** or **View as this workgroup**). The window opens with that group chosen. For a workgroup, it starts on the base role new members get when they sign up, with that workgroup on top.
3. **The Users page.** Open the **…** menu on a member's row and choose **View as this person**.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/view-as-account-menu_uvyyi8.png)

The page you are on stays open and redraws as the group sees it. That means an administrator who is editing a group can check the result straight away, on the same page. If the group can't open that page, you see a notice instead (see [Pages the group can't open](#2-pages-the-group-cant-open)).

## Viewing as a group
On the **A group** tab:
1. Pick a **Base role**.
2. Optionally tick **Workgroups on top** to add the workgroups whose view you want to see as well. This shows on the School and Enterprise plans when your account has workgroups.
3. On a school, tick **View as a teacher** if you want to see the Academy and other teacher-only parts the way a teacher in that role does. Leave it off to see what everyone else in the role sees. The checkbox is there only if you are a teacher yourself, the account owner, or a partner who manages the account.
4. Click **View as** followed by the group's name, for example **View as Student**.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/view-as-dialog-group_9yf23c.png)

### When some permissions stay off
A lower group sometimes has a permission that a higher group doesn't. On the default school groups, for example, Students can use **Go to local** and **See printer info**, while Teachers can't.

When that happens, the window tells you before you start: "2 permissions stay off, because you don't have them yourself", followed by their names. Those parts stay hidden while you view as the group, because View as never gives you a permission you don't have. To see them, add the permissions to your own group or ask someone who manages user groups.

### Slicer limits
If the group may change slicer settings that your own group has locked, you can't view as it. The window shows "This group can change slicer settings you can't". The slicer enforces its own limits, so viewing as that group would hand you settings your group is not allowed to change.

## Viewing as a person
On the **A person** tab, search by name (or email, if you can see the Users page) and pick the member. You see the panel with their base role and the workgroups they have right now.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/view-as-dialog-person_1n7v854.png)

A few members can't be picked, and the window says why:
- someone whose base role is above your own ("This role is above your own")
- someone whose base role can change slicer settings you can't
- the account owner (or a partner who manages the account), who can see everything, so there is nothing to view as

The window reminds you that this doesn't sign you in as them: you get the same permissions and groups, and nothing else. Their files, prints and messages stay private. If nobody else has joined the account yet, the tab says so, and you can still view as a group.

## While you are viewing as someone
A **Viewing as** button in the top bar shows whose view you are looking at, for example **Viewing as Student** or **Viewing as Student + Laser club**. On a narrower screen, such as a phone or a tablet, it shows only an eye icon.

Click it to see what it means ("You're still signed in as yourself", and when you view as a person, that you see your own files and prints, not theirs) and to:
- **Change**: pick another group or person
- **Stop viewing**: go back to your own view

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/view-as-viewing-as-pill_ndr1we.png)

View as is per browser tab. You can have the class's view in one window on the projector and your own view in another window on your laptop.

On the School and Enterprise plans, the account's audit log shows each start or change as "Started viewing as", and stopping it yourself (**Stop viewing**, or **Stop viewing as** on a blocked page) as "Stopped viewing as". Whoever can see the audit log can see who viewed the panel as which group or member. Other endings, such as closing the tab, switching account or the 8 hours running out, are not recorded.

## Pages the group can't open
If you open a page the group isn't allowed to see, for example the Users page while viewing as Student, the page says "**Student can't open this page**" and explains that the group doesn't have permission to see it. You can:
- **Stop viewing as** to see the page with your own access
- **Go to their start page** to carry on in the group's view

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/view-as-blocked-page_zx8ptw.png)

## Stopping View as
View as ends when you:
- click **Stop viewing** in the top bar
- switch to another account (it opens with your own access)
- close the browser tab
- have had it on for 8 hours since you last started or changed it

It also ends by itself if it no longer fits, for example when you lose the permission, the group or member is removed, your account's plan no longer includes multiple users, or your role or slicer limits change so the group is no longer allowed. The next time the panel loads a page, it tells you why and goes back to your own view.

## Related articles
- [User groups and permissions: what each one controls](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/user-groups-and-permissions-what-each-one-controls-1284ueh/)
- [Workgroups: layering extra access on top of a member's role](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/workgroups-layering-extra-access-on-top-of-a-members-role-qjypld/)
- [Managing your users: the Users page](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/managing-your-users-the-users-page-15hfca/)
- [Cloud Slicer permissions and role controls](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/cloud-slicer-permissions-and-role-controls-5v6yo/)
- [The teacher dashboard explained](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/the-teacher-dashboard-explained-k31k83/)
- [School and makerspace workflows: from teacher-led to student-led printing](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/school-and-makerspace-workflows-from-teacher-led-to-student-led-printing-cfmow0/)