Why do I get an "access denied" error?

Question

Why do I see the error message below?

Access Denied. You do not have access to this page. Please contact the account owner of this Zendesk for further help.

Answer

The Access Denied error message appears when someone attempts to access a page they don't have permission to view.

There are a variety of scenarios in which this error message can be displayed. These include:

Accessing the agent portal as an end user
Accessing an article without the required permission level
Accessing a feature that isn't available on your current plan level
Accessing a page that isn't permitted by your role

Accessing the agent portal as an end user

The most common occurrence of this error happens when an end user tries to access the agent portal or an agent is trying to log in to the help center as a customer.

To solve this issue

Navigate to yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/access/logout to end your previous session.
Navigate to yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/access/normal and sign in using your agent credentials.

Replace the string subdomain with the subdomain of your account.

Accessing an article without the required permission level

If the issue is related to an article, in particular, have another agent or admin with the correct permission level check that the article's restrictions are set appropriately. For more information, see the article: Setting view permissions on articles with user segments.

Accessing a feature that isn't available on your current plan level

It's possible that this error might appear when trying to access a feature that your plan level doesn't include. For more information on what's included with each plan, visit the Zendesk pricing page.

Accessing a page that isn't permitted by your role

If you have a role other than owner or admin, you may have limited access to tickets or features within your Zendesk account.

Reach out to an admin on your account if you need to have the permissions within your role adjusted, or if you need to be assigned to a different role. For more information, see the article: Creating custom roles and assigning agents.