---
title: "Roles and capabilities"
date: 2026-09-06
author: "nK"
---

# Roles and capabilities

The plugin adds two roles and a set of capabilities.

RoleCan**Portfolio Manager**Everything an Author can do with posts, plus create, edit, publish and delete any project, manage Portfolio Categories and Tags, and create and edit Saved Layouts**Portfolio Author**Everything an Author can do with posts, plus create, edit and publish their own projects and assign termsAdministrators and Editors get the project capabilities as well. [Saved Layouts](https://www.visualportfolio.com/docs/saved-layouts-and-shortcodes/) can be edited by Administrators and Portfolio Managers only; Editors cannot. Settings need the “manage options” capability, which Administrators have.

## Capability names

The capabilities are named after the post type: `edit_portfolios`, `publish_portfolios`, `manage_portfolio_terms` and so on for projects; `edit_vp_lists`, `publish_vp_lists` and so on for Saved Layouts. A role editor plugin can assign them to other roles.

## When capabilities go missing

Capabilities are synced on plugin updates. If users lose access to Projects after a change, deactivate and reactivate the plugin: it re-adds the capabilities.

Uninstalling the plugin removes the two roles and the capabilities; it keeps projects, settings and Saved Layouts.

When the Project post type is switched off in [Settings → General](https://www.visualportfolio.com/docs/settings/general/), the project capabilities are removed and the Portfolio Author role is deleted. Portfolio Manager stays for Saved Layouts.