Users and Accounts

WHMCS 8.0 and later introduced a new user management system. It allows a single user access to multiple client accounts. It clearly separates authentication and authorization from services, billing, and support. It's also a simple, powerful, flexible way for customers to manage their accounts and grant access to it to other users.

Several changes occur when you upgrade to WHMCS 8.0 and this new system. For more information, see Upgrading to WHMCS 8.0 below.

Accounts and Users

What Is An Account?

Accounts (formerly "clients") own products and services. They represent a billable party, like a business.

What Is A User?

Users have one or more associated accounts that they can access and manage. When a new account is created, a new user is created based on the account profile. This new user then becomes the account owner (see below). Separate controls manage users' access to each account.

For example, each of a web designer's customers could represent a distinct account. The web designer could log in as a user and access each of these accounts using a single set of credentials. However, the accounts themselves would not be connected.

What Is An Account Owner?

Each account is associated with a single account owner. Account owners have all of the possible permissions that a user can possess. They are also the only user who can send invitations from the account to new or existing users.

During checkout, users can choose to create a new account for the items in the cart. In this case, the system will assign account ownership for the new account to that user.

Creating and Managing Users and Accounts

Creating Accounts and Users in the Client Area

Accounts (and associated users) can manage users and their permissions from the User Management section of the Client Area. For more information, see Adding and Managing Users.

The new theme.

Streamlined Navigation

Notifications in Twenty-One

Notifications and your currently-selected account now display in a bar at the top of the screen. The breadcrumbs to your current page are now displayed prominently in a bar directly below the main menus.

The Selected Account

A convenient Switch Account icon next to your Logged in as information allows you to easily move between your associated accounts to get the most out of our users-and-accounts user management system. A few other actions, like logging out, have also been rearranged to optimize usability.

Social Media Support

The bottom bar of the Client Area now includes a row of configurable social media icons. You can add your social media accounts and display these icons by entering your social media accounts at Configuration > System Settings > General Settings in the Social tab.

Notifications in Twenty-One

Enhanced Interface Elements

Enhanced Interface Elements

We have updated many design elements throughout the Client Area, for a better experience whether you're on a desktop or mobile device. Because of this, several items have moved.

From the top navigation, for example, the user's language and currency now display as a combined control element at the bottom of the page.

Customizable Style and Color Palette

Customizations

Twenty-One offers a neutral color palette in gray tones with muted accents. You can easily make a custom system theme to update this, or you can place a custom.css file in the css directory, which, if present, will be loaded by the system theme template system.

Bootstrap 4

This system theme uses Bootstrap 4 for a responsive and refined design experience. Bootstrap 4 has many layout and class differences compared to Bootstrap 3, which is used in the previous Six system theme. If you use a custom system theme or order form template, you can incorporate these changes with the help of their migration guide.

All of the WHMCS-provided order form templates work with Bootstrap 4 in the Twenty-One or Bootstrap 3 Six. For more information and examples to use to create your own system themes, see our Developer Documentation.

Enabling Twenty-One

To set Twenty-One as your WHMCS installation's system theme in the Client Area, go to Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings. In the General tab, select Twenty-One as your System Theme.

Invitations

Invitations

To connect a user to multiple accounts at any time, send invitations from each account to that user or email address. The invitee will receive an email and must click the included link.

• If you send an invitation to an email address for an existing account, they can access the client account using their existing login credentials.
• If the email address does not correspond to an existing account, they can create one.

Note
Invitations expire after 7 days.

In the Client Area

Account owners can send invitations from the User Management section of the Client Area.

Inviting New Users

To do this:

1. Go to Hello, Name! > User Management.
2. Enter an email address under Invite New User.
3. Choose All Permissions to grant all available permissions, or choose Choose Permissions and select the desired permissions.
4. Click Send Invite.

We recommend this method for inviting users to existing accounts.

In the Admin Area

Admins can send invitations from the Users tab of the client profile in the Admin Area.

Disabling Users
Disable Client Area User Management in Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings > Other can disable user management for account owners and prevent them from inviting new users.

To do this:

1. Go to the Users tab in the account's client profile.
2. Click Associate User.
3. Choose an account from Select User or enter an email address.
4. Check the boxes for the desired Permissions, or click Check All to select all of them.
5. Toggle Send Invite to Yes to send an invitation email.
6. Click Invite User.

After you send an invitation, the invitee will display in Users in the client's profile. Click Resend Invite to resend the invitation email, or click Cancel Invite to cancel the invitation.

For more information, see Adding and Managing Users.

Managing Accounts and Users in the Client Area

Account owners can manage users and their permissions from the User Management section of the Client Area. We recommend this method for inviting users to existing accounts.

Managing Users in the Client Area

To do this:

1. Go to Hello, Name! > User Management.
2. Find the desired user in the list.
3. Click Manage Permissions.
4. Select the desired permissions.
5. Click Save Changes.

Note
Account owners cannot edit their own permissions.

Managing Accounts and Users in the Admin Area

Admins can view information about and manage individual accounts and their associated users in the Users tab of an account's client profile.

Note
Account ownership can only be transferred between users through the Admin Area.

Managing Users in the Admin Area

To manage a user from the Admin Area:

1. Go to the Users tab in the account's client profile.
2. Click Manage User for the desired user.
3. Make the desired updates to the user's information and permissions.
4. If you want to change ownership of the account, check Make Owner.
5. Click Save.

To trigger a password reset for a user:

1. Go to the Users tab in the account's client profile.
2. Click the down arrow for that user and select Password Reset.
3. Click OK.

Disabling Users
Disable Client Area User Management in Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings > Other can disable user management for account owners and prevent them from inviting new users.

Logging In

When a user who is only associated with one account logs in, their login session will automatically be associated with that account.

When a user with more than one account logs in, the Choose Account page will display. The user must select an account so that only information relevant to that account displays.

Click an Account When Logging In

Click on the desired account name to log in to that account. You can change your account at any time by going to Hello, Name!, clicking Switch Account, and clicking an account name again.

In Support Tickets

If they have the View & Open Support Tickets permission, all of the users for an account can view and reply to the account's support tickets.

In the Admin Area, each reply on a ticket includes a badge based on the correspondent's email address, the associated account for the ticket, and the WHMCS system. For example, these badges include Owner for the account owner, Authorized User, External User, and Guest. Sub-account appears when a reply is received from an address that's in the account's list of contacts.

In the Activity Log

Entries For The Same User in the System Activity Log

The Activity Log in the Admin Area lists information about events in WHMCS, attributing each event to its associated entity.

• Automation events are attributed to System.
• Admin actions that operate on the system are attributed to that admin. All other admin actions are attributed to that admin and list the associated client account.
• User actions are attributed to that user and list information about the associated client account.

Upgrading to WHMCS 8.0

In the upgrade to WHMCS 8.0, items like passwords, security questions, and two-factor authentication move from client accounts to the associated users. The primary client account will become a user who is the account owner. Additionally, sub-accounts are automatically converted to users during the WHMCS 8.0 upgrade process. Contacts will remain associated with their respective accounts.

The upgrade will not automatically combine or associate any users or accounts beyond what's discussed in this document. Use invitations, as described above, to associate users with accounts.