Request access to objects

Last update: January 13, 2025

Topics:
Get Started with Workfront

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User

Your visibility to objects in Adobe Workfront depends on your access to that type of object as well as your permissions on an individual object.

NOTE

This article describes how you can request permissions to all objects except for the following:

Scenario Planner plans in the Adobe Workfront Scenario Planner. For more information, see Request access to a plan in the Scenario Planner. This requires an additional license.
Views and workspaces in Workfront Planning. For more information, see Overview of sharing permissions in Adobe Workfront Planning. This requires an additional license.

Your Workfront administrator configures your access to a type of object in your access level. For more information, see How access levels and permissions work together.

If you need permissions to specific objects within Workfront, you can request access to them. Rather than sending email to the Workfront administrator or object owner to explain your needs, you can request additional access (or permissions) within Workfront.

You can request initial access to objects if someone shares a link to the object with you, or you can request additional access to objects you cat at least view.

For example, you might have View permissions to a project, but you need to add tasks to that project. In this case, you can request Contribute permissions to the project.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following to share objects:

Adobe Workfront plan

Any

Adobe Workfront license*

New: Standard

Current: Work or higher

Access level configurations

View access or higher to the objects you request permissions to

*For more information, see Access requirements in Workfront documentation.

The following standard sharing rules take effect automatically, as they are set up as default options in your Workfront system.

Users assigned to a task or an issue have Contribute access on it.
Project, Portfolio, and Program managers have Manage access on the objects they own.
Users included in a conversation have View access on the object where the conversation happens.
Users assigned as approvers have View access on the object waiting to be approved.
When sharing a dashboard, all reports on the dashboard are also shared with the same access to the same users.
Object owners are unable to extend access to an object beyond their access on that object as defined by the administrator.

Request access

You can request initial access to objects that you do not currently have access to, or you can request additional access to objects that you have only limited access to.

Request initial access
Request additional access

Request initial access

If you do not already have access to an object and you navigate to that object from a link, a screen is displayed informing you that you do not have access to view the information.

To request initial access to an object:

Click Request Access.
The Request Access dialog box is displayed.
(Conditional) If more than one user has the appropriate access to grant you additional access, a drop-down arrow is displayed next to the name of the user. Select the user from the drop-down list who should receive your access request.

Only 10 users are displayed in the drop-down list. The list is sorted alphabetically.
For more information on the order of the users listed in this drop-down menu, see Hierarchy of the “Request Access” and “Request More Access” drop-down menus.
From the drop-down list, select the type of access that you are requesting.
(Optional) In the P.S. field, specify a note to the user regarding why you need additional access.

Request additional access

To request additional access to an object that you already have limited access to:

Go to the object for which you want to request additional access.
Click the More menu to the right of the project name, then click Request More Access.
(Conditional) If more than one user has the appropriate access to grant you additional access, a drop-down arrow is displayed next to the name of the user.
Select the user from the drop-down list who you want to receive your access request.
Only 10 users are displayed in the drop-down list. The list is sorted alphabetically.
For more information on the order of the users listed in this drop-down menu, see Hierarchy of the “Request Access” and “Request More Access” drop-down menus.
From the drop-down list, select the level of access that you are requesting.
(Optional) In the P.S. field, specify a note regarding why you need additional access.
Click Request Access.

Sample image in the Preview environment:

Hierarchy of the “Request Access” and “Request More Access” drop-down menus

Understand the hierarchy of users listed in the Request Access and Request More Access drop-down menus
Understand the owner of an object

Understand the hierarchy of users listed in the Request Access and Request More Access drop-down menus

When populating the “Request Access” or “Request More Access” lists on objects, Workfront selects a list of up to ten users that fulfill various roles in the sharing of the object as described below. These users can grant access to the object to the user requesting it.
The resulting list is then is sorted by their name in ascending alphabetical order.
Workfront displays up to 10 users in the “Request Access” and the “Request More Access” lists.

The order of the users in the “Request Access” or “Request More Access” drop-down menus is dictated by the following rules:

The first user in the list is the object “owner”, as described in Understand the owner of an object.
Then the list is populated with users with whom the object is shared individually. They are listed in alphabetical order.
Then the list is further populated with users who get the required access through sharing with their teams, groups, or companies. They are listed in alphabetical order.
If the list is empty, the Workfront administrators are added so that there is always someone to request access from. They are listed in alphabetical order.
Each of the users in the list must have the requested access to the object and access to share the object.

Understand the owner of an object

The owner of an object is defined as follows:

Object	Definition of the Owner of the Object
Projects	The owner is the Project Owner or, if it is missing or they don't have the necessary access, the owner of the parent portfolio. They might not be the same person as the project creator.
Tasks	The owner is the Primary Assignee or, if it is missing or they don't have the necessary access, the owner of project on which the task resides, as defined above. They might not be the same person as the task creator.
Issues	The owner is the Primary Contact of the issue or, if it is missing or they don't have necessary access, the owner of the project on which the issue resides, as defined above. They might not be the same person as the issue creator.
Portfolios	The owner is the Portfolio Owner. They might not be the same person as the portfolio creator.
Documents	The owner is the Owner of the document (the user who uploaded the document) or, if it is missing or they don't have necessary access, the owner of the object on which the document resides.
Reports and dashboards	The owner is the creator or the report or the dashboard.
Calendars	The owner is the creator of the calendar. All users have a calendar assigned to them by default. They are considered the owner of that calendar.
Filters, views, and groupings	The owner of a filter, view, or grouping is the creator.
Plans	The owner is the creator of the plan. This requires an additional license. For information about the Workfront Scenario Planner, see The Scenario Planner overview.
Goals	The owner is the user designated as the Owner. They might not be the same person as the goal creator. This requires an additional license. For information about Workfront Goals, see Adobe Workfront Goals overview.

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Access requirements