Admins manage people under Settings, Users & Access, Users (add, edit, set roles, deactivate, unlock) and manage the organization under Settings, Company Settings, Company Information (name, logo, tax details, default currency, timezone, rates and auto-logout). Open Settings from the avatar menu by choosing Setup.
In this guide
How do I add a user to Autovella?What happens when I reach my user limit?How do I edit a user or change their role?How do I deactivate a user or unlock an account?Where do I set company details, logo and regional defaults?Tips and troubleshooting for user managementFrequently asked questions
How do I add a user to Autovella?
Autovella creates users directly instead of sending email invitations. You need permission to create users, which admins have by default.
- Open the avatar menu, choose Setup, then Users & Access, Users.
- Click Add User. The Add New User form opens.
- Fill in First Name, Last Name, Username (letters, numbers, dots, dashes and underscores; used to sign in and must be unique across Autovella) and Email.
- Enter a Password of 12 to 128 characters, or click Generate for a strong one.
- Pick a Role (default Employee) and, optionally, a Manager, Location, Phone, Date of Birth and Joining Date.
- Leave Active (user can sign in) ticked and click Create User.
- Share the username and password with the person, and ask them to change the password from their profile (see Profile, Password and Account Security).
Customers and contractors need a Linked Account. If you choose the Customer or Contractor role, Linked Account is required. It is what limits them to their own company's records. For client users, see Working with Clients and the Customer Portal.
Setting a Manager places the person in your reporting line, which feeds the Org Chart and approvals. Autovella blocks a user from being their own manager and blocks any assignment that would create a reporting loop.
What happens when I reach my user limit?
Your plan can cap the number of users. When you try to add someone at the cap, a User limit reached message appears (for example "User limit reached (10 of 10)") and the user is not created. Bulk CSV imports of users are checked against the same limit.
You can see your usage on Settings, Company Settings, Company Information, in the Organization & Plan card: the Users row shows, for example, "7 of 10 users" with a progress bar that turns amber past 75% and red past 90%. At 80% or more, a prompt suggests contacting Autovella to upgrade. The same card shows your plan, status and storage.
Deactivating does not appear to free a seat. The user count includes every user in your organization, active or inactive, and Autovella does not allow users to be deleted. Plan your headcount accordingly and contact us if you need more seats. See pricing.
How do I edit a user or change their role?
On the Users list, each row shows the name, email, last login, role badge and an Active or Inactive badge. Two ways to edit:
- Quick edit: click Edit on the row. The inline panel lets you change First Name, Last Name, Email, Role, Status, reset the password, and set Cost Rate and Bill Rate. Click Save Changes.
- Full profile: click the person's name to open their detail page, then Edit User. It adds Location, Date of Birth, Joining Date, Phone, Manager and a switch for API-only access (service account).
The role list contains the built-in roles (admin, manager, employee, contractor, finance, customer) plus any custom roles. The quick-edit panel shows the permissions inherited from the role and an Edit role button. To change what a role can do, edit the role itself under Users & Access, Roles. To add extra access to one person only, use Edit Permissions on their detail page. Details are in Roles, Permissions and Team Sharing.
Good to know:
- Non-admins who are allowed to edit users cannot change their own role, status or permissions, and cannot modify someone at or above their own role.
- Changing a person's password here signs them out of their existing sessions.
- Cost Rate and Bill Rate can be per hour or per day. Leave them blank to use the organization defaults.
Set up your team in minutes
Add users, assign roles and complete your company profile in Autovella.
How do I deactivate a user or unlock an account?
Open the person's detail page (click their name in Users), open the actions menu and choose Deactivate. You can also set Status to Inactive in the quick-edit panel.
- Confirm the prompt.
- If the person still has open tasks, a Reassign open tasks window appears. Choose a replacement and click Reassign & Deactivate, or leave the tasks with them and proceed.
A deactivated user is signed out immediately, cannot sign in, and no longer appears in assignee and owner pickers. Their history stays intact. Choose Activate from the same menu to bring them back.
Locked accounts
After 5 failed sign-in attempts an account is locked for 15 minutes. On the Users list a Locked badge appears (and a failed-attempts badge at 4 attempts) with an Unlock button. On the detail page use Unlock account. Unlocking clears the failed attempts straight away.
The detail page also has a Login History card showing the last 10 successful logins with browser information, visible to admins and to the user themselves.
Where do I set company details, logo and regional defaults?
Go to Settings, Company Settings, Company Information. Changes to the main form are saved with Save Settings.
- Company Logo: click Upload Logo (PNG, JPG or SVG; about 200 by 80 px works best) or Remove logo. It appears on invoices and documents.
- Company Name, Email, Phone, Address, Website and Tax / VAT Number print on documents.
- Country: choosing India reveals GSTIN and State for GST invoicing. See Multi-Currency and GST Tax Setup.
- Default Currency is used for new invoices and expenses.
These are admin-only fields, shown greyed out for others:
- Default Cost Rate (per hour) and Default Bill Rate (per hour), used for profitability and the Realization Rate KPI unless a person or project has its own rate.
- Working Hours per Day (1 to 24), used to convert daily rates to hourly.
- Auto-logout after inactivity (minutes), from 5 minutes up to 24 hours (default 30). Idle users get a 2-minute warning, and active users are never interrupted.
Regional Settings
The Regional Settings card has Default Timezone and Location, saved with its own Save button. Anyone who has not set a personal timezone on their profile uses this default.
Invoice numbering, templates and tax defaults live on the neighbouring Invoices item. See Invoice and Quote Templates.
Tips and troubleshooting for user management
- Use a work email and a username convention such as first.last, since usernames must be unique across all Autovella organizations.
- Start new people on Employee and promote later.
- Set a Manager on every user so approvals and the Org Chart work.
Add User button is missing. You do not have permission to create users. Ask an admin.
"Username already taken" style errors. Usernames are global, so try a variation.
Someone cannot sign in. Check that Status is Active and that no Locked badge is showing, then reset their password if needed.
Cannot save a Customer or Contractor. Link an account first.
Frequently asked questions
No. User deletion is not permitted. Deactivate the person instead, which blocks sign-in and keeps their history.
The user count shown in Company Information includes all users in your organization, active or not, so deactivation does not appear to lower it. Contact Autovella if you need more seats.
Five failed attempts lock the account for 15 minutes. An admin can unlock it sooner with the Unlock button.
Admins, or anyone whose role grants update access to Settings. Cost rate, bill rate, working hours, auto-logout and regional defaults are admin-only.
Open Settings, Company Settings, Company Information, change Default Timezone in the Regional Settings card and click Save. People who set their own timezone on their profile keep theirs.