Discord Permissions: Every Permission Explained

Discord has over 30 individual permissions. Here's a plain-English breakdown of every single one.

How Permissions Work

Permissions are set in two places:

Role permissions — apply server-wide
Channel permission overrides — override role permissions for specific channels

The Administrator permission overrides everything — it grants all permissions and cannot be blocked by channel overrides.

General Server Permissions

| Permission | What it does | Who should have it | |-----------|-------------|-------------------| | Administrator | Full access to everything | Owner, highest admins only | | View Audit Log | See a log of all moderation actions | Admins, senior mods | | Manage Server | Edit server name, icon, invite settings | Admins | | Manage Roles | Create/edit/delete roles below theirs | Senior admins only | | Manage Channels | Create, edit, delete channels | Admins | | Kick Members | Remove members (they can rejoin) | Moderators | | Ban Members | Permanently ban members | Senior mods, admins | | Create Instant Invite | Generate invite links | All members usually | | Change Nickname | Change their own nickname | All members usually | | Manage Nicknames | Change anyone's nickname | Moderators | | Manage Emojis & Stickers | Add/remove server emojis | Admins | | Manage Webhooks | Create/manage webhooks | Admins, bots | | View Server Insights | Access server analytics | Admins | | Manage Events | Create and manage scheduled events | Mods, admins | | Moderate Members | Timeout members | Moderators |

Text Channel Permissions

| Permission | What it does | |-----------|-------------| | View Channel | See the channel exists and read messages | | Send Messages | Post in the channel | | Send Messages in Threads | Post inside threads | | Create Public Threads | Start a public thread | | Embed Links | Post links that show a preview | | Attach Files | Upload images and files | | Add Reactions | React to messages with emoji | | Mention @everyone | Ping the whole server | | Manage Messages | Delete others' messages, pin/unpin | | Read Message History | See messages sent before they joined | | Use Application Commands | Use bot slash commands |

Voice Channel Permissions

| Permission | What it does | |-----------|-------------| | Connect | Join the voice channel | | Speak | Talk in the channel | | Video | Share their camera | | Mute Members | Server-mute someone else's mic | | Deafen Members | Server-deafen someone else | | Move Members | Move members between voice channels | | Priority Speaker | Lower everyone else's volume when speaking |

Most Dangerous Permissions

These should only go to highly trusted people:

Administrator — supersedes everything
Manage Roles — can be used to escalate privileges
Manage Webhooks — can impersonate the server
Mention @everyone — can mass-ping the server
Ban Members — permanent action