How To Make Roles In Discord And Set Category Permissions

Image Credit: discord.com

Discord is a popular text chat and voice platform that most online gamers use these days. Why? It’s quite reliable, highly customizable, easy to use, and comes with a variety of useful chat features for online gamers- and did I mention that it’s free? The Discord app gives role members certain permissions in its role management system. As a great way to keep your Discord server organized, you’ll need to know how to make roles in Discord and classify server members.

These highly customizable and functional features make Discord not only a go-to VOIP service for gamers but everyone else too. The ability to delete, assign, manage and create roles in Discord is an important skill, especially if you’re running a big server. By assigning roles with specific permissions, server owners give certain members various permissions and powers. Alternatively, you can categorize the participants into distinct groups with similar interests.

Essentially, assigning roles to users on your Discord server helps control channel permissions, which channels they can chat in, how they appear in the members list, and so much more. This is also how moderators are added to your Discord server.

Assigning, creating, and deleting the appropriate permissions can be daunting, especially for newbies. Discord server settings come with 13 server permission levels, 9 text permission levels, and 7 voice permission levels. These are a lot of permissions to work with, but it’s easy peasy once you know how to add roles in Discord.

What are Discord Roles?

In Discord, the term role is used to define a set of permissions with a tag. For instance, there’s a default role known as ‘@everyone,’ which includes a wide range of basic permissions such as talking and reading the messages on the server.

The server member with the admin role could create or add roles such as the ‘Moderator’ role, which would give the member the ability to either ban or mute other users. The server settings also allow the admin to assign online members multiple roles. This means that someone who’s been given both ‘@everyone’ and ‘moderator’ roles has all the powers from both dockets.

Why Use Discord Roles?

Not only can Discord roles help you manage members tab, but it can also help you get to know the server members, lock certain content behind specific channels, and reward backers. As admin, you can also set channel permissions that members in that role get, which then determines the functions they’re allowed to perform on the server.

This is a great way to protect your server since only members that you trust can make relevant changes to it. It’s also one way to keep new members’ permissions limited until they have been verified or have agreed to follow the set of server rules you have.

As admin, you can also lock the channels or channel categories behind certain Discord roles. For instance, you can make a channel that only your ‘moderator’ team can access whenever you need to discuss server changes and rules. This is one way for you and your ‘moderators’ can have conversations that are private from the other members.

What Are Discord Permissions?

‘Permissions’ are a term used to describe the specific functions and privileges role members have on the server. For example, as an admin, you can select and assign online members basic permissions that allow them to just add reactions to messages and other permissions that grant members more administrative powers. The select permissions are based on the Discord roles that you’ve assigned to the users and permissions that you’ve assigned each role on both the channel and server level.

In total, there are 29 permissions on the Discord server, and they are divided into; General, Voice, and Text permissions. To assign roles appropriately, you need to understand what each permission does. Here’s a list of permissions;

a) General Permissions on Discord Roles

Administrator – this permission grants all the other permissions on the server. Granting the administrator permission gives the admin role, which should be carefully given since it gives the user a lot of power
View audit log – this allows the member to read the audit logs on the server
Manage server – this grants the user the power to change the server name or just move it to a whole different region
Manage roles – this permission allows users to create new Discord roles and edit the roles that don’t have the same manage roles permission, turned on
Manage channels – this allows the user to edit, create, and delete channels on the server settings
Kick members – this allows certain members to kick members off the Discord server
Ban members – this grants permission to the user to ban specific members from the Discord server
Create instant invite – this gives the user permission to invite other users to your server
Change nickname – this grants the member permission to change their own nickname on the system
Manage nicknames – this allows the member to change the nicknames of the other users
Manage emojis – this allows the member to manage the emojis on the server settings
Manage webhooks – this grants the user permission to create, edit, and delete webhooks on the server
Read text channels & See voice channels – this allows the user to read the message and use voice channels

b) Text Permissions on Discord Server

Send Messages – this permits the user to send messages on the server’s text chat
Send TTS messages – this permits the user to send text-to-speech messages
Manage messages – this gives the user the permission to delete or pin messages from the other users
Embed links – this allows the user to embed hyperlinks on the chat
Attach files – this allows the user to also attach files on the chat
Read message history – this allows the member to scroll back on the chat and access any previous messages
Mention everyone – this allows the user to trigger the push notifications to the members on the channel
Use external emojis – this allows the user to use emojis from the other servers
Add reactions – this allows the user to add new reactions to the message

c) Voice Permissions Tab

Connect – this allows the member to connect/hear to the server voice channel
Speak – this allows the users to speak while on the voice channel
Mute members – this allows the user to turn off the ability of the other members to speak
Deafen members – this allows the user to turn off another user’s ability to hear on the channel.
Move members – this allows the member to move the other members from one channel to another
Use voice activity – this allows the member to speak without having to use the Push-to-talk feature
Priority speaker – this allows the member to reduce the volume of the other users when its time to speak so that they are louder on the channel
How to Create Different Discord Roles?
Being able to properly create roles is key, for you to manage your Discord server. It’s definitely a better idea to first create the basic roles before you start inviting member on your server. As admin, you can still go back and edit roles or add roles, especially if you’re in business. Here are the steps on how to create roles;
1. Log in to your access your Discord server
2. On the small drop-down, select the arrow that’s on the right of your server name and click on Server settings > Roles > Create Role
3. You’ll see the new role permissions listed as New role on the roles tab
4. Name the role descriptively and then assign it to a color. Colors help clarify and display role members separately
5. After this, you can then review all the 32 permissions, run through as you toggle on the only permissions that you want to be associated with that specific role
When done, select “Save changes” on the save icon at the bottom. If you happen to forget to save the changes, don’t worry a dialogue box will pop-up to remind you to do so before you proceed
Repeat this process for every new role that you want to create. By assigning different roles different permissions, you to create a hierarchy that’s based from trust. You can start by assigning lower roles to the newbies and higher roles that come with more permissions to those you know well.
How to Assign Roles in Discord Server?
After creating roles on your server, you’ll need to assign roles to the users on your chat. If you need to simultaneously assign roles to multiple members;
1. Just head over to the Server Settings, then tap on Roles. After this, click on the role that you’d like the members to have
2. Click Manage members > Add members
3. Then check the boxes next to each of the members who you’d want to have those roles and then click Add

If you simply need to add 1 or 2 members, here’s a quicker method;

Select the member on the member list that should get the role from the right-hand of the pane
Select the small ‘+’ symbol that’s under the username, then select the roles on the roles tab that you want to add from your menu
Repeat the same for each user
You can quickly add roles by right-clicking on each user on the member list, selecting Roles, and then clicking on the role that you want to add then save changes

Remember, you can also add as many roles to each member as you’d want.

How to Add Roles in Discord Mobile App?

If you’re probably on the go and need to create a new role and assign it, head over to the Discord application on your mobile. The process of assigning roles on the phone app is quite similar to doing it from the desktop application.

On the Discord app, select your server. Tap on the 3 little vertical dots at the top, right next to your server name
Tap on Settings, scroll down to the Members icon
Click on the member usernames that you’d like to assign the existing role to then tap on the checkbox that’s next to each of the member’s name for the roles that you’re assigning

How to Edit Roles in Discord Mobile?

If you need to edit existing roles on your Discord server, just head over to the server’s settings on the roles page, then tap on the Role that you want to edit. Scroll through your list while making any changes that you feel are necessary.

Pro tips:

Creating or deleting roles will need you to be the owner of the Discord server owner or have delegated permission to manage roles
Adding a new role on the Discord server lets you pick the username color and permissions
Frequently Asked Questions on How To Make Roles In Discord
1. How to make the roles in Discord private?
If you’ve already made separate channels, as the owner has to do is right-click on the group icon, select Edit Category > Permissions, then toggle the switch to Private Category. Next, select the role that’ll have access to that category, and voilà!
2. How to lock a VC in Discord?
To lock the access to a particular channel, open the server, right-click the Voice or Text channel, then select Edit channel, open the Permissions tab, then select @everyone under the roles/members, scroll down to Connect permission. Finally, click on the (X) to disable the permissions.
3. What does the padlock on Discord mean?
If a particular channel has a lock over the symbol, then this means that it’s a private channel and that only some members can see it. Interestingly, if anyone gets the access to the channel later, they’ll be able to see the full message history like whoever had access.