HappenBoard has its own permissions, one per area of the plugin. When you activate it, Administrators get all of them. Editors get the day-to-day work (events, attendees, bookings) but not the settings, the integrations or the attendee export.
Authors, Contributors and Subscribers get none: the HappenBoard menu does not appear for them.
Who can do what
| Permission | What it allows | Given to |
|---|---|---|
happenboard_manage_events | Open the Dashboard, Calendar and Events screens; create and edit event categories and tags. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_manage_venues | Open the Venues screen. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_manage_organizers | Open the Organizers screen. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_view_attendees | Read the Attendees screen and the attendee list of an event. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_manage_attendees | Edit an attendee, move them to another date, cancel or delete them. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_export_attendees | Download the attendee list as a CSV file. | Administrator |
happenboard_manage_settings | Open every section of HappenBoard → Settings. | Administrator |
happenboard_manage_integrations | Open the Integrations screen. | Administrator |
happenboard_manage_booking_types | Create and edit booking types; approve, decline or cancel bookings. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_manage_availability | Set the availability of every host. | Administrator, Editor |
happenboard_view_bookings | Open the Bookings screen, book for a customer, add notes, export bookings as CSV. | Administrator, Editor |
The map, weather and spam protection keys on the Integrations screen are saved with the settings. Changing them also needs happenboard_manage_settings.
Events, venues and organizers are WordPress posts, so editing them also follows the usual WordPress post permissions. A role that can write posts, such as Author, can open the block editor for a new event from a direct link, even without the HappenBoard menu.
Why exporting attendees is separate
Reading the attendee list and downloading it are two different risks. The export is a file of names, email addresses and form answers that leaves your site. So it is given on top of viewing, and only to Administrators by default.
Editors still work with each attendee on the Attendees screen. AI agents follow the same rule: acting for someone without the export permission, an agent sees attendee names and statuses, not email addresses.
Bookings work differently. Their CSV export, with customer email addresses, comes with happenboard_view_bookings, which Editors have. Keep this in mind before you give the Editor role to someone. See GDPR and personal data.
What Editors do not see
An Editor has no Settings and no Integrations in the HappenBoard menu. So these tasks stay with administrators:
- Changing the general and email settings.
- Importing events from another plugin or from an .ics file.
- Backing up the settings, and importing or exporting events as CSV.
- Using the health and maintenance screen.
- Switching on AI agents and reading their activity log.
Give a permission to another role
The permissions are standard WordPress capabilities, so any role editor plugin can change them:
- Install a role editor plugin.
- Open the role you want to change.
- Tick or untick the permissions whose names start with
happenboard_. - Save the role.
For example, create a “Door staff” role in your role editor plugin and give it only happenboard_view_attendees: its users can read the attendee list but not change it. HappenBoard itself adds no role.
Administrators keep every HappenBoard screen even if you untick one of these permissions on their role.
One more permission, happenboard_host, is given to no role. It marks a person as a host who only sees their own availability and bookings. It is meant to be given to individual users, for example by a staff plugin.
When permissions are added or removed
- Activating HappenBoard gives the permissions above to Administrators and Editors. An update that brings new permissions adds them the same way.
- These grants only ever add. A permission you gave to another role is never removed.
- A default you removed from Administrator or Editor comes back when you reactivate HappenBoard or when an update adds new permissions.
- Deactivating HappenBoard keeps the permissions. They are removed from every role and user only when you uninstall with data removal turned on.
HappenBoard Pro adds six permissions: tickets, orders, order export, refunds, check-in and shared booking resources. See Pro roles and permissions.
Next steps
- Managing attendees: what you can do on the Attendees screen.
- Pro roles and permissions: the permissions for tickets, orders and check-in.
- GDPR, personal data and uninstalling: handle data requests and remove everything.
- Health and maintenance: the administrator’s toolbox.