Guides · Odoo 20
Light users in Odoo 20: who stays Light, who becomes Standard
Odoo 20 distinguishes two types of internal user: Light users and Standard users. The type appears in the "Role" field of the user record. This guide gives the classification rule, with every case by application and by profile.
No price is given here: the price of a Light user is that of the Odoo price list in force, confirmed by ANOR when your Odoo licence is costed. The classification is based on reading the Odoo 20 source code (Community and Enterprise) and on tests carried out on Odoo 20 databases.
Key takeaways on Light users
- The classification depends solely on the access rights granted, never on how often the user logs in.
- A user is Light if all their rights appear on the Light list. A single right outside the list makes them Standard.
- Sending an invitation from an employee record creates a Light user. Creating the employee record alone creates no user.
- The classification is automatic: there are no profiles for you to configure.
To place this line in the full budget, read our guide on the cost of Odoo. The split of your users is prepared at scoping with our organisation consulting: free situation audit, review of roles and access rights.
How Odoo classifies a user
Each internal user has a set of rights, grouped into groups. Odoo gathers these groups, including the ones they imply and applies a single rule.
| Role on the record | Condition | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | The user holds the administration right. | A separate role, never Light. |
| User | Internal user with at least one right outside the Light list. | Standard. |
| Light | Internal user whose rights all appear on the Light list. | Light price. |
| None | No internal user right (portal, public). | Outside the scope of this guide. |
Three mechanisms to know
- Switching a user to the Light role in their record reduces their rights to the Light equivalent. Business rights with no equivalent are removed.
- Sending an invitation from an employee record creates a Light user, with the Light rights of the installed applications (time off, lunch, referrals, attendance).
- Some Standard rights imply others that are Light. For example, Inventory: User also grants Barcode and Quality, but the user remains Standard.
Every internal user has a base right. It is already enough to enter their own expense reports as drafts or to read contacts. Some rights taken alone do not make an internal user: they are added to the base right.
The business rights that stay Light
This table lists the actual access rights that stay Light, checked against Odoo 20's access rules.
| Application | Odoo right | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| Time Off | Employee | Request and track their own time off. |
| Attendances | Edit own attendance | Create and edit their own attendances (clocking in and out). |
| Attendances | User: Read own attendances | View their own attendances. |
| Lunch | User: Order your meal | Order their meal and see their balance. |
| Barcode | User | Receipts, deliveries, inventories, lots and packages from the scanning app. |
| Quality | User | Create and track quality checks and alerts. |
| Planning | User | View published planning slots and edit their own. |
| Referrals | User: Referral only | Share their referral link and view their own points. |
The setting options that stay Light
These rights are settings enabled within an application: lots and serial numbers, discounts, project milestones, analytic accounting, shop floor screen, timesheet assistant and others. Enabling them does not change the classification, but they do not grant access to actual use of the application either.
| Application | Light options |
|---|---|
| Purchase | Send an automatic email reminder to confirm delivery; A warning can be set on a product or a supplier (purchase) |
| CRM | Show the leads menu; Show the recurring revenues menu |
| Accounting | Delivery address; Allow cash rounding management; Analytic accounting; Allow fiscal years longer than 12 months |
| Discuss | Receive notifications in Odoo |
| Email Marketing | Manage email marketing campaigns |
| ESG | Enable CSRD reporting features |
| Manufacturing | Unlocked by default; Manage work order operations; Produce residual products |
| Manufacturing (shop floor) | Manage the work order timer on the shop floor; Manage your manufacturing orders from the shop floor app |
| Timesheets | Use the Timesheets assistant |
| General | Technical features; Multi-currency |
| Inventory | Show serial and lot numbers on invoices; Show lots & serial numbers on delivery slips; Require a signature on your delivery slips; Enable Batch, Wave and Cluster Transfers; Manage different stock owners; Manage packages; Manage lots/serial numbers; Manage pull/push flow rules; Manage multiple stock locations; Print GS1 barcodes for lot and serial numbers; A warning can be set on a contact (stock) |
| Rental | Use transfers for rental orders |
| Payroll | Show the payslip PDF |
| Point of Sale | Preset menu |
| Products | Show price with unit of measure; Manage product variants; Manage multiple units of measure; Basic price lists |
| Project | Use task dependencies; Use milestones; Use recurring tasks; Use stages on projects |
| Recruitment | Show the CV on the application form |
| Field Service | Extra quotations for field services; Field service geolocation; Field service: allow materials on interventions; Field service: allow customer report; Field service: allow equipment tracking; Field service: allow customer ratings; Field service: hide price |
| Sign | Manage template access |
| Website | Price comparison; Product feeds; Multiple websites |
| Sales | Enable services and materials in Sales; Pro-forma invoices; Discount on lines; A warning can be set on a product or a customer (sales); Lock confirmed sales |
Enabling lot and serial number management in Inventory stays Light, but working in the Inventory application is a Standard right. The shop floor screen settings are Light, but acting on a work order requires Manufacturing: User.
Every case, application by application
This table lists the access rights found in Odoo 20 for the common applications, with their classification.
| Application | Odoo right | Classification | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | User: own documents only | Standard | Create their own quotations and orders. |
| Sales | User: all documents | Standard | View and process all sales documents. |
| Sales | Administrator | Standard | |
| Point of Sale | User | Standard | Use the till. |
| Point of Sale | Administrator | Standard | |
| Helpdesk | User | Standard | Handle support tickets. |
| Helpdesk | Administrator | Standard | |
| Helpdesk | Show SLA Policies | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Helpdesk | Automatic assignment | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Helpdesk | Use time billing | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Project | User | Standard | Work on projects and tasks. |
| Project | Administrator | Standard | |
| Timesheets | Use the Timesheets assistant | Light | Setting: data-entry assistant. Does not grant the right to enter time. |
| Timesheets | User: own timesheets only | Standard | Enter their own timesheets. |
| Timesheets | User: all timesheets | Standard | |
| Timesheets | Administrator | Standard | |
| Purchase | User | Standard | Create and track purchases. |
| Purchase | Administrator | Standard | |
| Inventory | User | Standard | Inventory application. Implies Barcode and Quality (Light), but remains Standard. |
| Inventory | Administrator | Standard | |
| Inventory | Manage multiple warehouses | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Barcode | User | Light | Receipts, deliveries, inventories, lots and packages from the scanning app. |
| Manufacturing | User | Standard | Manufacturing application in the back office. |
| Manufacturing | Administrator | Standard | |
| Shop floor | Manage your manufacturing orders from the shop floor app | Light | Display setting for the shop floor screen. Opens no rights on work orders, which require Manufacturing: User. |
| Shop floor | Manage the work order timer on the shop floor | Light | Timer setting on the shop floor screen. Opens no rights on work orders. |
| Quality | User | Light | Create and track quality checks and alerts. |
| Quality | Administrator | Standard | Quality administration. |
| Maintenance | Equipment Manager | Standard | |
| Accounting | Read-only | Standard | |
| Accounting | Invoicing | Standard | Invoice. |
| Accounting | Invoicing and banks | Standard | Invoicing and banks. |
| Accounting | Accountant | Standard | |
| Accounting | Administrator | Standard | Accounting administration. |
| Accounting | Show inalterability features | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Accounting | Partial purchase deductibility | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Accounting | Show accounting features - Read-only | Standard | View accounting without being able to edit. |
| Accounting | Show full accounting features | Standard | Keep the books. |
| Bank | Validate bank account | Standard | Validate a bank account. |
| Time Off | Employee | Light | Request and track their own time off. |
| Time Off | Manager: Manage all requests | Standard | Manage all time off requests. |
| Time Off | Administrator | Standard | |
| Time Off | Time Off Responsible | Standard | Validate their team's time off. Assigned automatically: Odoo removes it from a user who is not responsible for any employee. |
| Attendances | Edit own attendance | Light | Create and edit their own attendances (clocking in and out). |
| Attendances | User: Read own attendances | Light | View their own attendances. |
| Attendances | Responsible: manage all attendances | Standard | Also implies: Edit own attendance (Light). |
| Attendances | Administrator | Standard | |
| Attendances | Manager: manage attendances | Standard | Manage attendances. Implies reading their own, but remains Standard. |
| Employees | Manager: Manage all employees | Standard | Manage employee records. |
| Employees | Administrator | Standard | |
| Recruitment | Interviewer | Standard | Take part in recruitment interviews. |
| Recruitment | Manager: Manage all applications | Standard | |
| Recruitment | Administrator | Standard | |
| Referrals | User: Referral only | Light | Share their referral link and view their own points. |
| Referrals | Administrator | Standard | Also implies: User: Referral only (Light). |
| Referrals | User responsible for referral rewards | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Lunch | User: Order your meal | Light | Order their meal and see their balance. |
| Lunch | Administrator | Standard | Also implies: User: Order your meal (Light). |
| Expenses | Team Approver | Standard | Approve their team's expense reports. |
| Expenses | All Approver | Standard | Approve all expense reports. |
| Expenses | Administrator | Standard | |
| Payroll | Show the payslip PDF | Light | Display setting for the payslip PDF preview. Already granted to all internal users; does not give access to other people's payslips. |
| Payroll | Assistant | Standard | |
| Payroll | Manager | Standard | |
| Payroll | Administrator | Standard | |
| Fleet | Manager: Manage all vehicles | Standard | |
| Fleet | Administrator | Standard | |
| Planning | User | Light | View published planning slots and edit their own. |
| Planning | Administrator | Standard | Also implies: User (Light). |
| Approvals | Manager: Approve all requests | Standard | |
| Approvals | Administrator | Standard | |
| Appraisals | Manager: Access all appraisals | Standard | |
| Appraisals | Administrator | Standard | |
| Email Marketing | User | Standard | Send email marketing campaigns. |
| Canned Responses | Canned Responses Administrator | Standard | |
| Surveys | User | Standard | |
| Surveys | Administrator | Standard | |
| Events | Registration Desk | Standard | |
| Events | User | Standard | |
| Events | Administrator | Standard | |
| Documents | User | Standard | Use the Documents application. |
| Documents | Administrator | Standard | |
| Documents | System Administrator | Standard | |
| Sign | Manage template access | Light | Setting for access to signature templates. |
| Sign | User: Own templates | Standard | Create and manage their own signature templates. |
| Sign | Administrator | Standard | |
| Dashboard | Admin | Standard | |
| Discuss | Receive notifications in Odoo | Light | Preference for receiving notifications in Odoo. |
| Website | Restricted Editor | Standard | Edit the website content. |
| Website | Editor and Designer | Standard | Edit the website structure and design. |
| Website (shop) | Automatically add optional products, accessories and alternatives | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Website (shop) | Unpublish out-of-stock products | Standard | Option that unlocks a business feature. |
| Contact | Creation | Standard | Create contacts. |
| Export | Allowed | Standard | Export data from lists. |
| Products | Create | Standard | Create products. |
| ESG | Administrator | Standard | |
| ESG | User | Standard |
Cross-application rights
A few rights do not depend on any application. They are all Standard.
| Odoo right | Classification | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Public access to arbitrarily exposed model | Standard | Technical right. |
| Bypass HTML field sanitisation | Standard | Technical right. |
| Technical documentation | Standard | Technical right. |
| Access Rights | Standard | Manage users and access rights. |
| Multi-companies | Standard | Access several companies. |
| Role / Administrator | Standard | Administrator role: a separate role, never Light. |
| Role / User | Standard | Marker set automatically as soon as a right outside the Light list is granted. |
| Email template editor | Standard | Edit email templates. |
Only applications whose modules were installed on the test databases appear in these tables. For any other application, including a custom module, the principle is the same: a right that is not on the Light list is Standard.
Light or Standard users: practical cases by profile
Here is how the rule reads for the most common profiles. The classification comes from the rights granted, not from the job title.
| Profile | Rights granted | Classification | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-service employee | Time Off: Employee, edit own attendance, meal ordering, notifications in Odoo | Light | All these rights appear on the Light list. |
| Employee who enters their expense reports | No additional rights | Light | The base right of an internal user allows them to enter their own expense reports as drafts (checked by test). |
| Employee invited from their record | Default rights reduced to their Light equivalent | Light | The invitation creates a Light user. Creating the employee record alone creates no user. |
| Warehouse operator using the scanner | Barcode: User | Light | This right covers transfers, lots, packages and inventory in the scanning app. |
| Storekeeper who also opens the Inventory application | Inventory: User | Standard | This right is outside the Light list, even if it is only used occasionally. |
| Quality inspector | Quality: User | Light | Creating and tracking quality checks and alerts is a Light right. |
| Quality manager | Quality: Administrator | Standard | The Administrator level is outside the Light list. |
| Shop floor operator working on work orders | Manufacturing: User, with or without the shop floor screen settings | Standard | The shop floor screen settings are Light, but open no rights on work orders: these require Manufacturing: User. |
| Field technician who views their planning | Planning: User and Field Service options | Light | Viewing published slots and editing their own is a Light right. Rights linked to the installed intervention modules (timesheets, intervention sheet) should be checked when the quote is prepared. |
| Field technician who creates an additional quotation | Planning: User and Sales: User | Standard | The "extra quotations" option alone grants no sales right. Creating the quotation requires Sales. |
| Employee who refers a candidate | Referrals: Referral only | Light | Light right designed for employee referrals. |
| Recruitment interviewer | Recruitment: Interviewer | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Recruiter | Recruitment: Manager | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Team leader who approves time off | Time Off: Time Off Responsible | Standard | It implies the Employee right (Light), but is itself outside the Light list. Odoo assigns and removes it automatically depending on the employees the user is responsible for. |
| HR manager | Employees: Manager, Time Off: Manager | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Team expense report approver | Expenses: Team Approver | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Employee who enters their time | Timesheets: User (own timesheets) | Standard | The data-entry right is outside the Light list. The entry assistant alone is a Light setting that does not grant this right. |
| Salesperson | Sales: User | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Buyer | Purchase: User | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Cashier | Point of Sale: User | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Project manager or project team member | Project: User | Standard | Outside the Light list. The Milestones, Stages, Dependencies and Recurring Tasks options are Light but do not give the right to work in Project. |
| Customer support | Helpdesk: User | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Accountant | Accounting: Accountant | Standard | Outside the Light list. Analytic accounting, cash rounding and fiscal years are Light options that are not enough to keep the books. |
| Invoicing assistant | Accounting: Invoicing | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Payroll manager | Payroll: Assistant, Manager or Administrator | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Website editor | Website: Restricted Editor or Editor and Designer | Standard | Outside the Light list. |
| Light user allowed to export data | Base right and Export: Allowed | Standard | This one added right is enough to switch to Standard (checked by test). |
| User who creates contacts or products | Contact: Creation, Products: Create | Standard | A Light user can read contacts but not create them (checked by test). |
| User who edits email templates or works across several companies | Email template editor, Multi-companies | Standard | These cross-application rights are outside the Light list. |
| User who only enables setting options | Lots and serial numbers, discounts, milestones, analytic accounting and other options | Light | The options in section 4 do not make a user Standard. |
| Administrator | Administrator role | Standard | A role separate from the other two, never Light. |
| User in a group created by a custom module | Group specific to a custom development | Standard | Any group missing from the Light list is Standard, unless the module declared it Light. |
| Portal or public website user | No internal user rights | Outside scope | Not an internal user: this note does not cover them. |
Frequently asked questions about Light users
Not necessarily. The classification follows the rights granted, not usage. If they only have personal-use rights (time off, attendance, meals, expense reports), they are Light. As soon as they are given a business right, for example the Inventory application, they are Standard.
Yes. It is common for a Light profile to switch because of an ancillary right: data export, creating contacts or products, email templates.
No, they are Standard by default. A custom development can declare a group as Light, but this is not automatic.
Yes, in their record, but Odoo then reduces their rights to the Light equivalent: those with no equivalent are removed. Check with the user what they actually do before switching.
Yes: the Light role exists from Odoo 20 onwards. An Odoo upgrade is the opportunity to review everyone's rights. If you are still on Odoo 17 or 16, two cases: on Odoo.sh, the platform requires a supported version and migration is a must; on a dedicated on-premise server, your version keeps running, but the publisher has stopped publishing its security fixes, hence the value of planning the upgrade.
The price follows the Odoo price list in force and we confirm it during the costing conversation, together with the Odoo Custom licence. Count your users by role before that conversation: the Light and Standard split makes up most of the licence line.
Estimate your Light and Standard split
We start from the actual list of your users and their rights, then tell you who is Light, who is Standard and why.