Managing portal users in Zoho CRM involves navigating to the Portal Members section to adjust roles or remove access — here's exactly how to do it from the admin interface.
Why this matters
If your business shares CRM data with external customers or partners through a Zoho CRM Portal, you'll periodically need to promote users to Admin, demote Admins back to regular users, or remove someone's access entirely. Getting this wrong can leave sensitive records exposed or lock out a legitimate collaborator. Understanding the correct sequence of steps saves time and prevents access-control mistakes. As independent expert support for Zoho (not official Zoho support), Beam Help walks you through the process below.
Step-by-step
Step 1. Open your Zoho CRM Portal page. From the main navigation, go to the My Portals page to see all portals associated with your account. [1]
Step 2. Click the Portal Members option to view everyone currently in the portal. A full list of members will be displayed on screen. [1]
Step 3. Locate the user whose details you need to update. Next to their name, click the More Options button (typically represented by three dots or a similar icon). [1]
Step 4. To change the user's role, select either Make as Admin or Make as User from the dropdown that appears. This lets you promote a standard user to Admin, or demote an Admin back to a regular user. [1]
Step 5. If you are switching an Admin down to a regular user, you will need to take an extra configuration step: choose which workspaces that person can access and define their role-based permissions for each workspace. This ensures their access remains appropriately controlled after the role change. [1]
Step 6. If you need to remove a user entirely rather than change their role, return to the Portal Members list, click More Options next to the relevant user, and select the Delete option. Only those with the authority to manage roles can perform this action. [1]
Step 7. To confirm the update was applied correctly, click the Portal Members icon on your Portal page and review the updated list. [1]
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A note on portal user types
Zoho CRM distinguishes between regular CRM users and portal users at the data level. A portal user carries a type value of "Client Portal User" and is assigned a dedicated portal profile and role — separate from the internal CRM user hierarchy. [3] This distinction matters if you are using Client Scripts, because you can target scripts to run for specific portal user types or even individual portal users using the $Crm.user object. [3]
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Portal URL change to be aware of
If your portal users are reporting login issues or broken bookmarks, note that Zoho CRM Portal URLs have migrated from the older crm.zoho.com/portal/[orgname]/crm/login.sas format to a new subdomain structure: [orgname].zcrmportals.com/portal/[orgname]/crm/login.sas. The old URL redirects automatically, but users should update any saved bookmarks to the new address. [2]
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Common pitfalls
- Forgetting workspace assignments after a demotion. When you switch an Admin to a regular user, Zoho CRM will require you to manually specify which workspaces they can access and what their role is within each. Skipping this step can result in the user having no access at all. [1]
- Insufficient permissions. Only users who have been granted role-management authority — Super Admins and Admins — can add, change, or remove portal members. If the More Options menu doesn't show the expected choices, check whether the logged-in account has the right permission level. [1] [6]
- Stale portal URLs causing confusion. If users cannot reach the portal after an update, the portal URL migration may be the culprit. Confirm the correct URL format and share it with affected users. [2]
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What to check
- Confirm the role change took effect by returning to the Portal Members list and verifying the user's displayed role matches what you intended. [1]
- Verify workspace access for any user who was demoted from Admin to User — ensure they have been assigned to at least one workspace with an appropriate role. [1]
- Test the portal URL your external users are relying on to make sure it resolves correctly under the updated
zcrmportals.comsubdomain format. [2]