Odoo Studio is powerful but dangerous — anyone with Studio rights can change fundamental fields, views and workflows. One wrongly deleted field and your invoicing stalls. By default, Studio rights are tied to the main administrator role, but you can decouple them so that only specific power users are allowed to use Studio. That way you keep control without slowing everyone down.
The problem
By default, anyone with "Settings" or "Administration" also gets Studio. For a team of five, that's fine. But suppose a manufacturer with forty users hires an external consultant to optimise screens. That person needs Studio — but really doesn't need to create users, manage companies or adjust security settings. You want to be able to separate that.
First, take a look: how do the groups relate to each other?
Activate Developer Mode and go to Settings → Technical → Security → Groups. Find the group Studio / User and look at the Implied Groups tab: these are the groups someone automatically receives as soon as you assign this group. That shows you exactly which rights are quietly piggybacking — and there are often more than you think.
Creating your own role
Next, create a new group, for example Studio Power User:
- Create a new group in the same Groups screen.
- Give it the Studio rights as an implied group, but definitely not Administration / Settings.
- Assign the group to the users in question via Settings → Users.
These users can now open Studio and modify screens, but cannot change users, companies or security settings. Exactly the separation you were looking for.
Best practices
- Grant Studio rights temporarily: activate them for a sprint or project, then deactivate them again afterwards.
- Document every Studio change — new fields, automations, modified views — in a simple log or wiki.
- Test Studio changes on a staging environment first, not directly in production.
- Review your Studio customisations at every Odoo upgrade: they can break, and then you want to know what was changed in the past instead of guessing.
Finally
Practical tip: before every major Studio session, export a list of your existing custom fields (found under Technical → Fields, filter on "x_studio"). Then you can see at a glance afterwards what has been added. Unsure about the right permissions structure in your Odoo environment? Contact DAADit Group — we'd be glad to set it up with you.
Questions about your Odoo implementation? Start the free Business Scan.
Start the Business Scan →Odoo Studio is powerful but dangerous — anyone with Studio permissions can change fundamental fields, views and workflows. One wrongly deleted field and your invoicing stutters. By default, Studio permissions are tied to the main administrator role, but you can decouple that so only specific power users get to use Studio. That way you stay in control without slowing everyone down.
The problem
The default is: whoever has "Settings" or "Administration" also gets Studio. For a team of five that is fine. But picture a manufacturing company with forty users hiring an external consultant to optimise a few screens. That person needs Studio — but really should not be creating users, managing companies or touching security settings. You want to be able to separate those things.
First, look at how the groups hang together
Enable Developer Mode and go to Settings → Technical → Security → Groups. Look up the Studio / User group and check the Implied Groups tab: these are the groups a user automatically receives when you assign this one. It shows you exactly which permissions hitch a ride — and there are usually more than you would expect.
Creating your own role
Next, create a new group, for example Studio Power User:
- Create a new group in the same Groups screen.
- Give it the Studio permissions as an implied group, but no Administration / Settings.
- Assign the group to the relevant users via Settings → Users.
These users can now open Studio and adjust screens, but cannot change users, companies or security settings. Exactly the separation you were after.
Best practices
- Grant Studio permissions temporarily: enable them for a sprint or project, then disable them again.
- Document every Studio change — new fields, automations, modified views — in a simple log or wiki.
- Test Studio changes on a staging environment first, not directly in production.
- Review your Studio customisations at every Odoo upgrade: they can break, and you will want to know what was changed rather than guess.
To finish
Practical tip: before any big Studio session, export a list of your existing custom fields (found under Technical → Fields, filter on "x_studio"). Afterwards you can see at a glance what was added. Unsure about the right permission structure for your Odoo environment? Contact DAADit Group — we are happy to set it up with you.
Questions about your Odoo implementation? Take the free Business Scan.
Start the Business Scan →