How do permissions work in general?

Highrise lets you set permissions on people, companies, cases, and notes. There are four levels of permissions for each item:

1. "Everyone" means every user that has access to your Highrise account can see this item.
2. "Only I can" means only you can see this item.
3. "Select a group..." allows you to select a pre-formed group of people who can see this item (more on groups below).
4. "Select people..." allows you to select which people can see this item.

What does that little lock icon mean?

The lock means that only some people can see that item. You can just click the item to see who can view it.

The item page will tell you who else besides you can see it.

How do I change permissions on a person, note, or case?

Edit the person, note, or case in question.

You'll see options to change the permissions. In the case of people you'll need to click the "Permissions" tab to get to the permissions settings.

What are groups and how do permissions and
groups work together?

Groups are just multiple people wrapped together so you can grant permissions to all those people at once. For example, you may have a group called "Executives" which consists of your CEO, CTO, CFO, CIO, etc.

Then, you could set permissions using that group. For example, you could make a sensitive note visible only to Executives by selecting "Select a group..." from the permissions options and selecting the Executives group.

You can make as many groups as you like and add as many users to each group as you like.

If I change the permissions on a contact from private ("Only I can") to public ("Everyone") — or vice versa — what happens to the notes on that person's page?

When you flip someone from public to private, all the notes go private. When you flip someone from private to public, all the notes that were marked private remain private and all future notes are public.

What is an administrator (aka admin)? Can we have multiple admins? How do I give someone admin access?

Administrators can add contacts, tasks, cases and users as well as edit other people's contacts, notes and tasks. They can basically do everything an account owner can do except for canceling, upgrading, or viewing/changing billing details. However, private data can not be seen by admins or your account owner unless you specifically allow them permission to view those items.

Any admin can grant admin access to someone else by clicking the Users tab.

Then check the "Administrator" box next to the person's name. You can have as many administrators as you'd like.