Who can see what: privacy and sharing

In this article:

1. The visibility rule
2. Owner is not visibility
3. List privacy modes
4. Viewer and Editor roles
5. Sharing a single record
6. Transferring list ownership
7. What workspace admins can do
8. Frequently asked questions

Privacy in the Model Match CRM is designed around one simple rule, with a small set of building blocks layered on top. Once you understand the rule, everything else follows.

The visibility rule

A workspace member can see a record if any one of these four things is true:

1. They own the record.
2. They're a workspace admin or owner. Admins see everything in the workspace.
3. The record is in a list they can see.
4. The record was shared with them directly.

If none of the four apply, the record is invisible to them. A record that isn't on any list is visible only to its owner, workspace admins, and anyone it's been shared with directly. A teammate who runs into one of these will see a message explaining that it's private to its owner and that they should ask the owner or a workspace admin to share it.

Owner is not visibility

This is the most common point of confusion, so it's worth stating plainly: the Owner field is a working assignment, not a privacy control.

Owner determines whose name is on the record, powers the My contacts / Everyone tabs, and helps route work. It does not restrict who can see the record. Any workspace member can reassign a record's Owner, and assigning someone as Owner is separate from sharing the record with them.

If you want to control who sees a record, use list privacy or record shares. If you want to indicate who's working it, use Owner.

List privacy modes

Every list has one of three privacy modes, set in List Settings → Permissions by the list owner or a workspace admin:

• Private: only the list owner and workspace admins. Every new list starts here.
• Everyone in the workspace: all members can access the list. When switching to this mode, you also choose the workspace-wide role, Viewer or Editor (see below).
• Specific people: hand-picked teammates, each granted a Viewer or Editor role individually. The list owner is always listed first and can't be removed.

A few behaviors worth knowing:

• Sharing a Private list with one specific person automatically switches it to Specific people mode.
• Switching a list back to Private removes all list grants at once. However, any records that were shared individually along the way (for example, via an @mention) stay visible to those teammates. Record shares are independent of list privacy.

Viewer and Editor roles

When a list is shared, each person (or the whole workspace) gets one of two roles:

• Viewer: can view the list, add records to it, and log activity, but can't remove records or delete anything.
• Editor: everything a Viewer can do, plus removing records and managing the list's contents.

One boundary applies even to Editors: managing the list's sharing stays with the list owner and workspace admins. An Editor can work the list fully, but can't change its privacy mode, grant or revoke access, or transfer ownership.

Sharing a single record

Sometimes you want one teammate on one record without opening up a whole list. A record share grants a single teammate full access to a single record. Shares are created three ways, and each is labeled in the record's "Shared with" panel so you always know how someone got access:

• Via mention: when a record owner or admin @mentions a teammate who can't yet see the record, a dialog asks whether to grant access. It explains that granting access lets them see all activity on the record, and offers three choices: grant access and post, post without them, or keep editing. Teammates who aren't the owner or an admin can't mention someone without access; they'll see a message explaining that only the owner or an admin can share the record.
• Via task assignment: assigning a task to someone who can't see the record shares the record with them, with the same confirmation warning.
• Shared directly: added by hand in the record's "Shared with" panel.

Rules that apply to all three:

• Only the record owner or a workspace admin can grant or revoke record shares.
• Every share and revocation is logged to the record's timeline, so access changes are always auditable.
• Revoking a direct share doesn't remove access the person has another way. If they can still see the record through a list, ownership, or admin rights, revoking the share changes nothing for them.

Transferring list ownership

To hand a list to a teammate, use Make owner in the list's Permissions tab. The new owner takes over full control of the list. You stay on as an Editor, and the new owner can remove you later if needed.

Transfers require the current list owner or a workspace admin.

What workspace admins can do

Workspace admins and owners operate above the sharing system:

• They see every record and every list in the workspace, regardless of privacy settings.
• They can manage, rename, delete, and transfer any list.
• They can grant or revoke sharing on any record or list.

Frequently asked questions

If I assign someone as a record's Owner, can they see it?
Ownership and visibility are separate concepts. In practice, when a record is assigned to a teammate they're notified, but the reliable ways to guarantee access are the four paths: ownership of the record, admin rights, a visible list, or a direct share. If in doubt, share the record directly.

Can I keep some notes on a record private?
No. A record's timeline is all-or-nothing: anyone who can see the record sees every note, task, meeting, call, and email on it.

I removed someone from a list. Why can they still see one of its records?
They likely have another access path, most commonly a record share created earlier via @mention or task assignment. Check the record's "Shared with" panel and revoke the direct share if needed.

Who can change a list's privacy?
Only the list owner or a workspace admin. Editors manage contents, not sharing.

Does making a list "Everyone in the workspace" let everyone delete records?
Only if you chose the Editor role, and even then Editors remove records from the list rather than managing sharing. Deleting records from the CRM entirely is a separate, confirmed action. If you want broad visibility with guardrails, share to everyone as Viewers.

Up next

See how lists work day to day in Creating and organizing lists, or review the building blocks in Understanding the Model Match CRM data model.