This tutorial will teach you how to setup
roles and permissions in your Discord server. You can use the video chapters to skip
to parts of the video that you need. First, we will be explaining how the permissions
work. If you don’t care about the specifics then you can skip to the next chapter of the video.
There are two types of permissions, role permissions and channel permissions.
Server role permissions are fairly simple and only have two modes, on and off. These permissions
are server-wide and include additional settings. To make things as simple as possible we recommend
leaving all server permissions disabled for most roles. The only roles you will want to have
server permissions are moderator and admin roles. Channel permissions have three modes and
override server permissions. The cross will disable the permission, the tick will enable
the permission, and the slash will follow existing rules from the server or channel
settings for other roles the member has. Channels also have an everyone role, which
are the default permissions for the channel. Any role permissions that are added will
overwrite the default permissions that you set. It is also important to note that if a member has
two different roles with conflicting permissions then the enabled permission
will always take priority. We will have examples on screen
of how the permissions will work. Categories also have permissions. The category
permissions are the same as channel permissions. If a channel is synced to the category then they
will use the same permissions as the category. This is useful for adjusting permissions
on multiple channels at once. If the channel is not synced then it
will ignore all category permissions. There are different ways to
set up your server permissions, for this tutorial we will be showing
you the easiest set up for each role. You can also use our text guide
linked in the description if you like. Start by clicking on your server title.
Open the server settings. Switch to the roles page.
First, you will need to understand how Discord server roles work. The roles are set up
like a hierarchy, with the top roles having power and permissions over the roles below it. Because
of this you will want to have administrator, moderator and bot roles at the top of the list.
Select the default permissions option at the top. Clear permissions.
Save, then click the back button. The first role we will be creating is a member
role. A member role is given to all new members when they first join the server. Typically the
role is given using an auto roles or reaction roles system.Our tutorials for setting
up both of these systems will be linked in the description below. Once the member
role is given the user will gain access to all of the channels in the server.
Choose to create a role. Give the role a name, I'll be
calling mine “Member” for simplicity. If your Discord server has a theme then you
may want to name this role appropriately. Next, set a role color. For your member
role you will want to choose a color that is easily readable but isn’t too vibrant. I
like to use one of the default blue colors. You can also click the eyedropper
box to choose a custom color. Use the bottom slider to choose a color,
then the top palette to pick the exact shade. Scroll down and enable the “Display
role members separately” option. This will create a category on the side of the
server for everyone that has this role. Make sure the “Allow anyone to
mention” option is disabled. Switch to the permissions tab.
Clear permissions. Ensure that the member’s role
is at the bottom of the list, just above the everyone role.
Save changes then go back. Next is a moderator role.
Create role. Name the role “Moderator”
or something of that nature. Choose one of the vibrant colors for the
role. Again you can use the eyedropper to select a custom color.
Scroll down and enable the display role members option.
You may also want to enable the mention option, this will allow members to
mention the moderator role whenever someone is breaking the server rules.
Switch to permissions. Start by clearing all the permissions if needed.
Select the search bar and type “timeout”. Enable the timeout members option. This will
allow moderators to prevent a user from typing in text channels or connecting to voice channels.
We also recommend enabling the view audit logs, change nickname, manage nicknames, mention
everyone, manage messages, mute members, deafen members and move members permissions.
You can also enable the kick and ban permissions if you like, however, we
don’t recommend this for server security. Drag the moderator role so
it is at or near the top. Save changes, then go back.
Now we will set up an admin role. Click “Create Role”.
Name the admin role as you would like. Select a vibrant color, I like to select
a custom color using the eyedropper tool. Enable the option to display the role separately,
and make sure the mention option is disabled. Switch to permissions.
Clear all permissions if needed. Select the search box and type “Admin”.
Enable the administrator permission, this will enable all server permissions
and give additional abilities. Make sure that only yourself or very
trusted people are given the admin role. Drag the role so it is above the moderator role.
Save and go back. Now we will create a bot role. Most bots will
create their own roles and permissions when being added, this role is just used to organise
the server and give all bots the same color. Choose to “Create Role”.
Name the role. Give the role a color.
Scroll down. Typically you will want to enable the
“display role members separately” option. If you don’t want bots to be easily seen in
the member’s list then leave this disabled. Also make sure that the
mention option is disabled. Switch to permissions.
Here you have two options, you can enable the options you’re happy with bots
possessing, or you can clear the permissions. We recommend clearing permissions.
Drag the bot role so it is just below the moderator role.
Save changes and go back. Next we have a friend or VIP role. This role will
be used to give access to private server channels, without giving any moderator permissions.
Choose to create a role. Name the role, I’ll be calling
it “Friends” for simplicity. Give the role a color, usually,
something fairly vibrant is recommended. Scroll down and enable the
“display roles separately” option. Keep the mention option disabled.
Switch to the role permissions tab. You can leave the permissions
blank, however, you may want to enable the change nickname and move permissions.
The change nickname permission will allow them to change their name in the server, and the move
permission will allow them to drag users from one voice channel into another. This can be useful if
you’re using a private channel and need to drag in a member that doesn’t have permissions to join.
Drag the role so it’s below the moderator role. Save changes and go back. Next is a muted role. The muted role can be used
by bots to punish users that break your server rules. Anyone that is given the muted role
will lose the ability to send text messages, or speak in voice channels. To get the most
out of this role we recommend using Dyno bot, a link to our Dyno bot tutorial
will be included in the description. Create a role.
Name the role “Muted”, the name is important if you
plan on using the role with bots. Give the role a color if you like, typically
you will want to use a dull or grey color. Scroll down and make sure that
both the options are disabled. Switch to permissions and make
sure there are no permissions set. Drag the muted role so that
it is above the member role. Save changes, then head back. The final roles that we will be setting
up are booster or subscribtionr roles. Discord will automatically create a booster
role when you get your first booster. If you are a streamer then Discord may also create
subscriber roles for your stream. Use the same permissions for subscribers as you do boosters.
If you don’t have these roles yet then skip this section, and come back to the video when you do.
Select the booster or subscriber role. Rename the role if you want, then
assign a custom color or leave it as is. Scroll down and enable the option
to display the role separately. Switch to permissions.
Start by clearing all permissions. Move the booster role up the list
so it is above the member’s role. Save changes and go back.
Make sure that your roles are in the same order as mine. If they aren’t, then click and
drag on the left side to move them to position. Save and Close. Now we will be setting up the
channel permissions for the server. Right-click on the side panel
and choose to create a channel. Select the channel that you want to make.
Give the channel a name, then create. Hover over the channel and click the gear icon.
Switch to the permissions tab via the left panel. Expand the advanced permissions.
Text channels and voice channels have different permission settings and each channel
can be set up with their own unique permissions. Categories have options for both
voice and text channel permissions. All of the channels in that category can be synced
to follow the same permissions as the category. If a channel isn’t synced then the category
permissions won’t affect the channel at all. To try make channel permissions
as simple as possible we have separated the channels into types.
The first type of channel is server details. Server details are text channels
that are open to everyone in the server, however, no one can send messages in them. This
type of channel is typically reserved for rule, announcement, and welcome channels.
For the everyone role you will want to enable the view channel and read message history option.
You may also like to enable the create invite permission, this is optional.
Disable all other permissions. Save changes.
For most channels these will be the only permissions needed. If you are setting
up a channel that requires bots to interact with then you will need to make some changes.
Click the plus icon and add the bot role, or the specific bot you want
to have access to the channel. Enable the add reaction and send messages
options. The send messages permission is needed for welcome channels, and the add reaction
permission is needed for reaction roles. Save and close to update the channel permissions.
Next, we have general channels. General channels are voice and text channels that can be
accessed and used by all members in the server. Select the everyone role.
For text channels, disable the options to view channel, manage channel, manage permissions,
manage webhooks, create public threads, create private threads, attach files, use
external emojis, use external stickers, manage threads, and send text-to-speech.
Enable the send messages, send messages in threads, add reactions and
read message history permissions. For voice channels disable the
view channel, manage channel and manage channel permissions options.
Enable the connect, speak and use voice activity options.
Save changes. Click the plus icon and add the muted role.
For text channels disable the ability to send messages and send messages in threads. For
voice channels disable the ability to speak. Save changes.
Add the members role. Enable the view channel permission, then save.
Repeat this process, enabling the view channel permission for all other server roles.
Next are moderator channels. Moderator channels are only accessible
by server mods, admins and bots. Disable the permissions to view channel, manage
channel, manage permissions, manage webhooks, create public threads, create private threads,
attach files, use external emojis, use external stickers, manage threads, and send text-to-speech.
Enable the send messages, send messages in threads, add reactions, and read
message history permissions. On voice channels disable the view channel, manage
channel, manage permissions, and connect options. Next, enable the speak and use
voice activity permissions. Save changes.
Add the moderator role. Enable the view channel permission for text
channels, and the view channel and connect permissions for voice channels.
Save changes. Repeat these permissions for
both the bot and admin roles. Next, add the muted role. On text channels disable the ability to send
messages and send messages in threads. For voice channels disable the ability to speak.
Save changes. The following steps are only
for moderator voice channels. Add the members role.
Enable only the view channel option. This will allow your server members
to see the channel, but not join. Save your permissions.
Repeat this with any other roles in the server that you don’t want to
be able to connect to the voice channel. A friends channel is only accessible to friends
and trusted roles. If you are a content creator then you will typically want to use the friends
voice channel for making content. This way the other members in the server can see who you’re
making content with, and when it’s happening. Select the everyone role.
On text channels enable the send messages, send messages in threads
and read message history permissions. Disable the permissions to view channel,
manage channel, manage permissions, create invite, create public threads,
create private threads and manage threads. For voice channels you will want to enable
the speak and use voice activity permissions, then disable view channel, manage
channel, manage permissions, and connect. Add the muted role.
Disable the speak permission for voice channels, and the send messages, and send messages
in threads permission for text channels. Save changes.
Add the friends role. Enable the view channel option for text channels.
For voice channels enable the view channel and connect option.
Repeat these settings for any other role that you would like to have
access to the channel. Typically the admin, bot and moderator roles will be added here,
however, this may vary depending on your server. If you are setting up a voice channel
then you will want to add the member role. Enable the ability to view
channel, then save your changes. Next we have special channels for
VIP’s, boosters or subscribers. For the everyone role, disable the permissions to
view channel, manage channel, manage permissions, manage webhooks, create public
threads, create private threads, attach files, use external emojis, use external
stickers, manage threads, and send text-to-speech. For voice channels, disable the
view channel, manage channel, manage permissions, and connect options.
On text channels enable the send messages, send messages in threads, add reactions,
and read message history permissions. On voice channels enable the speak
and use voice activity permissions. Add the muted role.
Disable the ability to send messages and send messages in threads. On
voice channels disable the ability to speak. Save.
Next, add the role that you want to have access to the channel.
Enable the view channel permission for text channels, and the view channel and
connect permissions for voice channels. If your server has more than
one special role then add them all with the same permissions just mentioned.
Also use the same permissions for the moderator and bot roles. This will allow for mods and
bots to still see and moderate the channel. The next type of channels are bot and log
channels. These are text channels that only bots can type in to keep a record
of what is happening in the server. Moderators have access to viewing the logs,
bot not the ability to make any other changes. With the everyone role selected, disable
the options to view channel, manage channel, manage permissions, manage webhooks, create
public threads, create private threads, attach files, use external emojis, use external
stickers, manage threads, and send text-to-speech. Enable the send messages and
read message history permission. Save.
Add the moderator role. Enable the view channel option, and
disable the send messages option. Save.
Add the bot role. Enable the view channel option.
Save and close. Finally, we have promotional
channels, which are used by members to promote their videos, content or servers.
Start off with the basic everyone settings. Enable the read message history
and send messages permissions. Disable the options to view
channel, manage channel, manage permissions, manage webhooks, create public
threads, create private threads, attach files, use external emojis, use external stickers,
manage threads, and send text-to-speech. Save.
Add the muted role. For text channels you want to
disable the ability to send messages, and send messages in threads. On voice
channels disable the ability to speak. Save.
Add the member role. Enable the view channel permission.
Go through and add the other server roles with the view channel permission enabled.
Save any changes then switch to the overview tab. Locate the slow mode slider, this controls how
long a member has to wait between messages. Drag the slider up to the time you
want, we recommend 30 minutes or higher. Having the slow mode enabled will prevent members
from spam promoting their videos or servers. Save changes and close. Your Discord server roles and
permissions will now be set up. To make the role and permissions set
up easier we have created a simple Discord server template that you can use
if you are starting a server from scratch. You can use the server template by clicking
on the link provided in the description. Alternatively, copy the URL, paste it
into the address bar and hit enter. Name your server.
Click “Create”. All of the basic server roles
will now be set up in your server. You can change the colors of the roles by
going to the roles page in the server settings. You will also notice several categories
in the server. Each category is set up with our recommended permissions for
each type of channel that we mentioned. There are two ways that you can use the
categories to rapidly set up your server channels. The first option is to click the
plus icon next to the channel. Select the channel type that you want to make. Name the channel.
Press “Create”. The new channel will now be set up with
all of our recommended permission settings. The second option is to drag in a
channel you have already created. Choose to sync and your current channel settings will automatically be replaced
with the settings of the category. You will now be able to set up your Discord
server role and channel permissions.
