Grant a Google Workspace User Access to Google Vault With an Admin Role

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

Who can access Google Vault by default

By default, only Google Workspace Super Admins can access and use Google Vault.

When to create a custom admin role for Google Vault

If you want to grant any Google Workspace user full or partial access to Google Vault and its features, you should create a custom admin role, as shown in the steps below.

How to create a custom admin role for Google Vault step-by-step with images

Step 1

Go to the Google Admin console https://admin.google.com and click the Admin roles icon.

Step 2

Click Create new role.

Step 3

Give the role a name and description and click CONTINUE.

Step 4

Admin privileges that grant access to Google Vault

Look for Google Vault in the list of permissions.

There are a few checkboxes below it, each of which grants access to specific permissions. Some of them always apply to all organizational units, while you can restrict others to specific OUs.

You can restrict the following permissions to specific OUs:

Manage Matters – All matter management options: create, share, close, reopen, edit, delete and restore.

Manage Holds – View a list of users on hold, create and remove holds.

Manage Searches – Search and view data; create and delete saved searches.

Manage Exports – View, download, and delete exports. To create exports, you must have both this and the Manage Searches permission. If you are a Super Admin, note that you can only work with exports you’ve created and ones in matters shared with you.

You can not restrict the following permissions to specific OUs:

Manage Retention Policies – View, create, edit and delete retention rules.

View Retentions Policies – View all retention rules.

Manage Audits – View audit logs for matters that were created by or shared with the user. It also allows viewing all hold reports and viewing holds in matters the user can access.

View All Matters – View all matters.

After you select the desired permissions, click CONTINUE at the bottom.