Discord is the voice and text chat platform of choice among online gamers these days. It's easy to use, highly customizable, and offers a variety of useful chat features.
These features include the ability to assign and manage roles for your chat server users.
Here's how to add, manage, and remove roles in Discord.
What are Discord roles?
In Discord terminology, a role is a defined set of permissions with a name. For example, there is a default role called "@everyone", which gives a wide range of basic permissions like talk on the server and read messages.
A server administrator can create a “Moderator” role, which would add the ability to mute or ban other users. Users can also have multiple roles, i.e. a person who has both @everyone and Moderator roles would have all the powers of @everyone plus the powers of a moderator.
Discord Permissions
There are 29 permissions on Discord which are divided into general, text, and voice permissions. To properly assign roles, you need to understand what each does. Below is a list of each permission for reference.
General permissions
- Administrator – Administrator permission grants all permissions that exist on the server. Granting this permission can be dangerous as it gives a lot of power to the user.
- View audit log – this permission allows the user to read the server audit logs.
- Manage Server – this permission allows the user to change the server name or move it to another region.
- Manage roles – this permission allows the user to create new roles and edit roles for which the role management permission is not enabled.
- Manage channels – this permission allows the user to create, modify and delete channels on the server.
- Members kick – this permission allows the user to kick members from the server.
- Ban Members – this permission allows the user to ban members from the server.
- Create an instant invite – this authorization allows the user to invite other users to the server.
- Change nickname – this permission allows the user to change their own nickname.
- Manage nicknames – this authorization allows the user to modify the pseudonyms of other users.
- Manage emojis – this permission allows the user to manage emojis on the server.
- Manage Webhooks – this permission allows the user to create, modify and delete webhooks.
- Read text channels and view voice channels – this authorization allows the user to read message channels.
Text permissions
- Send messages – this permission allows the user to send messages on the text chat.
- Send TTS messages – this authorization allows the user to send text-to-speech messages.
- Manage messages – this permission allows the user to delete or pin posts from other users.
- Embed links – this authorization allows the user to embed hyperlinks in the chat.
- Attaching files – this permission allows the user to attach files in the chat.
- Read message history – this permission allows the user to go back and access previous messages.
- Mention Everyone – this permission allows the user to trigger push notifications for channel members.
- Use external emojis – this permission allows users to use emojis from other servers.
- Add reactions – this permission allows the user to add new reactions to a message.
Voice permissions
- Connect – this authorization allows the user to connect (ie hear) to the voice channel.
- Speak – this authorization allows the user to speak on the voice channel.
- Ignore Members – this permission allows the user to disable another user's ability to speak.
- Deaf members – This permission allows the user to disable another user's ability to hear on the channel.
- Move Members – this permission allows the user to move other members from one channel to another.
- Use voice activity – this authorization allows the user to speak without using Push-to-Talk.
- Priority speaker – this permission allows the user to reduce the volume of other users when this user speaks so that their words are louder on the channel.
How to Create Roles in Discord
Setting up your roles correctly is key to managing your users on a Discord server. It's a good idea to create the basic roles before you even start inviting people to the server. You can always go back and add new roles or reconfigure existing roles once you're in business.
Step 1
Log in to Discord and navigate to your server.
Step 2
Select the small drop-down arrow to the right of the server name and click "Server Settings".
Step 3
Click "Roles" in the left pane. You should see a single role called @everyone.
Step 4
Click the "+" icon at the top of the center pane to add a role.
Step 5
Name the role descriptively and assign it a color (colors clarify and inform users of everyone's roles).
Step 6
Review all 32 permissions, enabling only those you want associated with this role.
Select "Save Changes" at the bottom. If you forget to save your changes, a dialog box will appear reminding you to do so before you can continue.
Repeat the operation for each new role you want to create.
Assigning different permission levels to different roles allows you to create a hierarchy based on trust. You can assign lower roles to newbies and higher roles with more permissions to those you know well.
How to Assign Roles in Discord
After creating roles for your server, you need to assign them to your chat users.
Step 1
Select the user you want to assign a role to in the right pane.
Step 2
Select the little "+" under the username and select the role from the menu.
Repeat for each user on your server.
You can also quickly add roles by right-clicking the user, selecting Roles, then clicking the role(s) you want to add from the context menu.
Remember that you can add as many roles as you want for each user.
Assign Roles on Discord Mobile
To create a new role and assign it at any time, head to the Discord app on your mobile phone. Instructions are similar to the desktop app and simple to assign.
Step 1
In 'Settings', scroll down to 'Members'.
Step 2
Click the usernames you want to assign an existing role to.
Step 3
Tap the checkbox next to each member's name for the role you are assigning.
Changing Roles in Discord Mobile
Go to server settings and tap "Roles" as you did above, then follow these steps:
Step 1
Tap the role you want to edit.
Step 2
Scroll through the list making any changes you deem necessary.
By following the steps listed above, your Discord server will be organized and productive, even on the go.
How to Manage Roles in Discord
Managing roles in Discord is similar to creating them. You can add more roles if you need and change the permissions within each. Depending on how you want to run your server, you can get away with creating just two roles, admin and @everyone.
As your community grows, you can add more. Since roles must be added individually to each user, by far the most efficient use of your time is to put as many of your server's policy decisions as possible in the @everyone role so that users have the default permissions you want them to have.
You may have noticed the left column on the Roles page, which displays the names of all the roles you have created. Usernames on the server will display the color of the highest role assigned to a user. Users can easily recognize who the moderators, administrators, etc. are. on the server.
How to Delete Roles in Discord
It's rare that you have to delete a role in Discord, because you simply couldn't assign it. However, if your account is cluttered with unused roles, here's how you can remove them.
Step 1
Select the small drop-down arrow next to your server and select "Server Settings".
Step 2
Select "Roles" in the left pane and select the role you want to remove.
Step 3
Scroll down and click on the “Remove [role name]” button.
Confirm by clicking “OK”.
Frequently Asked Questions
There's always something new to learn on Discord. We've included more information about roles in this section.
Can I automatically assign roles in Discord?
Absoutely! However, you may need a bot to do this. Managing a Discord server can be a tedious and overwhelming task. Luckily, you can add other admins to help out or consider using bots. We have an article that will walk you through automatic role assignment in Discord here.
I'm an administrator, but I still can't manage the server. What is happening?
If the server owner created an admin role for you, but you can't make some changes, it's probably because they never enabled all the permissions under your role. Contact the server owner and ask them to verify that you have permissions under your role.
Latest Thoughts
Role management is a crucial part of keeping a Discord server organized, especially when gaining users.
Keep in mind that there is a limit of 250 different roles on a particular server. This shouldn't be a limitation in practical terms, but don't start defining every possible combination of permissions you might want to use - you'll quickly run out of roles if you do this.
