The Switch Member feature enables members with the Switch to another member permission to view the community using another community member’s account as if it were their own. 

For example, if you are an administrator and you switch to an account of a general community member, you no longer see any of the administrator options because the account you switched to does not have the appropriate permissions to see those tools.

• Use the Switch Member feature
• Grant permission to use the Switch Member feature

Use the Switch Member feature

1. Sign in as a member with the Switch to another member permission set to Grant.
2. Open the Account menu and click Switch Member.
3. On the Switch Member window, select whether you want to use the Username or User ID of the member you want to switch to.
   
   
4. In the field, enter the username or user ID (this includes the member’s profile URL) of the member. As you start entering a username, some suggestions may appear in a drop-down menu; you can select the correct member from this list.
5. Click Switch Member.

You are switched to the account you have selected, enabling you to access the community as they would. At the bottom left of the screen, an indicator displays which member’s account you’re now using. 

To go back to your own account, click the gear icon on the sign-in indicator and Switch back to me—or to switch to another member, click Switch to another member and select the member you want to switch to as you did previously.

Some additional notes about this feature:

• Members cannot switch to an account that has a higher privilege set than their own. For example, if you allow members with the Moderator role to have the ability to switch to another account, they will not be able to use this feature to sign in to an administrator's account (assuming the Moderator role hasn't been edited to set all permissions to Assign). Instead, when they try to use the feature, they receive an error saying they do not have the appropriate privileges to sign in to that account.
• This ability should be given only to trusted individuals. When you use this feature, you view the community as the selected member sees it. This means you can take actions as that member, including creating posts under their username, which can have undesired consequences. Therefore, this permission should be restricted to administrators and other trusted individuals.

Grant permission to use the Switch Member feature

As an admin, you can manage the permissions for the Switch Member feature. The permission is turned off by default for all non-administrator community members.

It is NOT recommended that you enable this feature for all community members. In fact, this permission should be designated only for administrators (to which the feature is enabled by default) or other trusted individuals. For this reason, the following procedure should be used sparingly. 

To grant the permission to use the Switch Member feature:

1. Go to the Roles and Permissions page for the community or desired level of the community where you want to grant the permission.
2. In the roles area for that level, hover your cursor over the role, click the Options menu, and then click Edit.
3. In the Permissions section, locate the Member Management permission set, and beside Switch to another member, click Grant. 

For more information about permissions, see Permission descriptions.