Zoho CRM: Data Sharing Settings

Zoho CRM: Data Sharing Settings



Data Sharing Settings

Data security should be at the top of your priority list. Overseeing the security administration is a growing concern in any company, especially for e-commerce and other large network companies.


Security Management is considered prevalent – impacting all areas of an organization. The foundation of security management is a model with role-based access control, enabling all the required functionality and authentication for your data.


Zoho CRM provides a set of security features that defines permission to the data and the characteristics of the CRM itself. These include Profiles, Roles, Users, Groups, and more.


Once data sharing rules are set up, users within other roles and groups can gain added access to the records owned by other users if required.


By default, access to CRM records for each module is set to private to only the record owner, and their manager can also access their data.

Data Sharing Rules can extend the rights to users belonging to other roles and groups.



How to Manage Default Sharing Settings

  1. Go to Setup > Users & Controls > Security Control > Data Sharing Settings
  2. On the Data Sharing Settings page, click Edit All Default Permissions.
  3. On the Edit Default Organization Permissions page, update the Access Privilege for each module.
  1. Private: Only the record owner and their manager (or anyone above them on the Role Hierarchy) can view their record.
  2. Public Read-only: Users can view others users’ records but cannot edit or delete them.
  3. Public Read/Write/Delete: Others can view, modify and delete records regardless of ownership or Role.
  1. Click Save.


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How to Create Data Sharing Rules

Data Sharing Rules help you create rules to access or restrict users from viewing the data in various modules.


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  1. Setup > Users & Control > Security Control > Data Sharing Settings
  2. On the Data Sharing Settings page, click New Sharing Rule for the corresponding module.
  3. On the New Sharing Rule page, do the following:
  1. From whom the records are shared.
  2. To whom the records are being shared.
  3. Choose the Access Type from the drop-down (either read-only or Read/Write/Delete).
  4. Select the Superiors Allowed box to allow sharing to the user’s superiors.
  1. Click Create Sharing Rule



Record Sharing

To share specific records with other users, you have the option to set up record sharing. Zoho CRM, customer detail, notes, project requirements, deal status, primary contact details, etc., are stored in different modules and managed by responsible individuals.

Your business process could require precise information to be shared with other members. In that case, you must give the person the necessary permissions to view, edit or refer to the record when needed. Zoho CRM provides different types of data sharing such as, 

Direct Sharing - Individual records can be directly shared with other users. A deal can be shared with another sales rep.
Indirect Sharing - A record can be shared as an associated record. A deal can be related to a contact, and when you share the contact's record, the deal too will be shared with the other user.

Records can be shared from any module other than the activities and linking modules.

Activities module - Tasks, calls, and meetings are always associated with a record. When the initial (deal, contact) record is shared, the associated activities are also shared.
Linking Module – Using multi-select lookup fields, you can associate multiple look-up values to a record, thereby establishing a many-to-many module association between two modules. Two contacts on a deal record thus, sharing both contacts when the deal record is shared.

Three permissions can be given to the users when sharing a record:
  1. Read-Only - The user can only view records.
  2. Read/Write - Users can view and edit records. This does not include changing the owner or deleting the record.
  3. Full Access – Users can view, edit, and delete the records that are shared with them. They’re also able to change the ownership of the record.

While sharing, you can specify if you want to share the record with related lists or without the related lists. Related listed include activities and other modules associated with the record. When you share a record, all the related lists related to the record can have different sharing permissions. For instance, users can have full access to the contact but read-only access to the related lists.

How To Enable Permission to Share Records

  1. Click Setup > Users & Control > Security Control > Profiles.
  2. Select a profile to which you want to enable the permission.
  3. Enable the Share permission under Tool Permissions.
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  1. Select the checkbox(es) for the corresponding modules to which you want to enable Share permission.
  2. Click Save


How to Share Records

  1. Go to the Module you want to share a record and select the record you wish to share.
  2. On the Record Details page, click the More Actions icon and then click Share.
  3. In the Sharing [Record] popup, do the following:
  1. Select the record access type: Private or Public.
  2. For Public sharing, Choose the access permission: Read Only, Read & Write, or Full Access
  3. Click Share.
  4. For Private sharing, select the users with whom you want to share the record. 
  5. Choose the access permission: Read Only, Read & Write, or Full Access.
  6. Click the Add user icon to add more users and define sharing permissions. You can add multiple users with different access permissions.
  7. Select the With Related List checkbox, if required. All the associated records will also be shared. In the future, if you associate new records (for example, you add meetings), they will also be shared.
  8. Select the Notify through feeds checkbox to alert users when you share records with them.
  9. Click Share.


How to Revoke Sharing

If you have shared a record with users, there is an option to revoke complete sharing. On revoking, the record will no longer be shared.

  1. Go to the Module from which you want to revoke sharing for a record and select the record.
  2. On the Record Details page, click the More Actions icon and then click Share.
  3. In the Sharing [Records] popup, click Revoke Sharing.
  4. Click Revoke to confirm.


Record Sharing: Key Points to Remember

  1. You can share records individually; you cannot select records from the list view and share multiple records at a time.
  2. Only when a module's default organization permission is Private/Public Read can the record-level sharing feature be used. 
  3. The user must have the Share permission enabled in their profiles to share records with others.
  4. You cannot share a record that is shared with you; you must be the owner of the record to share it.

Profile permission is above all. For all the shared records, the profile permission supersedes all other permissions. For example, you share a lead with John, giving him full access to the record, but John’s profile permission gives him Read-Only access for the Leads module. In this case, profile permission will supersede the record sharing permission, and John will only view the records.


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