Log in as another user

  • Updated on Mar 14, 2023
  • Published on Apr 5, 2022
  • 1 minute(s) read
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As a Site Administrator (or an individual with an appropriate role and associated permissions) you can log in as another (non-administrative) user. Logging in as a user allows you to see the site as this user would see it, and complete various actions across the site. 

Site Administrators and Site Managers have the ability to log in as other users by default. However, you can assign the moodle/user:loginas capability to a role at the site or course level to allow users to log in to other users' accounts. For example, you could assign this capability to the Editing Trainer role in a specific course to allow any Editing Trainers in that course to log in to Learners' accounts, which could help with troubleshooting issues. See Edit a role for more information on how to change a role's assigned capabilities.

To log in as another user, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Quick-access menu > Users.
  2. Search for and find the required user.
  3. Select the user's name to open their profile.
  4. Under the Administration section, click Log in as.
  5. Complete the required actions as the selected user.
  6. Click Log out on the user menu to end the session.

The Log in as functionality is primarily designed for troubleshooting access and technical issues, but may also be used for testing purposes or to assist a user who is having difficulty with a specific task or action.

For security reasons, you will be required to log back in as yourself following a Log in as session. 

Actions carried out while logged in as another user will be logged against the individual's activity and identified as being completed by the administrator during a logged-in-as session. This is different to the Switch role feature in Totara Learn courses, as it allows you to complete actions as the user you are logged in as. 

Please be aware that using the Log in as functionality may not always provide an accurate representation of what a user can see. To reliably test how a user in a given role will see your site and its content we recommend creating a test account with the relevant roles and permissions.

Join the Totara Community for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara. 


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