Smart Support User Management: Permissions & Restrictions

The Smart Support user management settings control how customers register for your WordPress help desk, access the Support Center, manage their own support tickets, and interact with your customer support ticket system.

You can configure registration requirements, account approval, customer ticket permissions, reopen limits, ticket submission restrictions, welcome emails, and Terms and Privacy Policy consent from one settings area.

To access these options, go to:

WordPress Dashboard → Smart Support → Settings → User Management

User Registration Settings

The User Registration section determines how new customers create accounts and gain access to your Smart Support customer portal.

Allow New User Registration From Support Page

Enable Allow new user registration from support page to display customer registration options in the frontend Support Center.

When enabled, new customers can create an account directly through your WordPress support portal.

Disable this option when customer accounts are created through another process or when you do not want public registration available from the support page.

Require User Registration to Submit Tickets

Enable Require user registration to submit tickets when customers must have a registered account and be logged in before creating support tickets.

This is useful when you want every ticket connected to an identifiable WordPress user account and customer ticket history.

Requiring registration can help maintain a more controlled WordPress customer support ticket system.

Require Approval

Enable Require Approval when newly registered customers should be reviewed before they receive access to the support system.

When enabled, a user must complete the standard approval process before gaining access.

When disabled, newly registered users are automatically approved and assigned the configured user role.

This setting is particularly useful for:

• Private customer portals
• Membership websites
• Client-only support
• Product support for approved customers
• Organizations that need controlled help desk access

Default User Role

Choose the WordPress role assigned to newly registered customers.

For most standard customer support configurations, a limited role such as Subscriber is appropriate.

Remember that this is a WordPress user role, so the selected role can also affect capabilities elsewhere on your website.

Welcome Email

Enable Send welcome email to new users if customers should receive an email after registering.

A welcome email can help new users understand that their account was created successfully and provide instructions for accessing your Support Center.

Terms and Privacy Policy

Smart Support can display a Terms and Privacy Policy consent option during customer registration.

You can configure:

• Enable Terms and Privacy Policy checkbox on registration
• Make Terms and Privacy Policy acceptance required

Enable the first option to display the consent checkbox.

Enable the second option when customers must accept your Terms and Privacy Policy before registration can be completed.

This helps you incorporate your website’s legal and privacy requirements into the Smart Support user management workflow.

User Ticket Permissions

The User Permissions section controls what customers can do with their own support tickets from the frontend Support Center.

Users Can Close Their Own Tickets

Enable Users can close their own tickets to let customers mark a support request as closed when they consider the issue resolved.

This can reduce unnecessary work for support agents because customers do not need to ask an agent to close completed requests.

Users Can Reopen Their Own Tickets

Enable Users can reopen their own tickets when customers should be able to reopen previously closed support requests.

This is useful when:

• A problem returns after a ticket was closed.
• A recommended solution does not work.
• The customer needs to continue the same support conversation.

Allowing customers to reopen an existing ticket can also reduce duplicate ticket creation.

Reopen Time Limit

Use Reopen Time Limit to determine how many days after closure a customer can reopen a ticket.

For example:  7 days means customers can reopen the ticket for seven days after it is closed.

Set the value to: 0 to allow reopening without a time limit.

Choose a period that matches your support and ticket-retention workflow.

User Restrictions

The User Restrictions section helps prevent excessive ticket creation and gives administrators more control over customer activity.

Max Tickets Per User

Max Tickets Per User controls the maximum number of open support tickets one customer can have at the same time.

For example: 5 means a customer can have up to five open tickets simultaneously.

Once the maximum is reached, the customer must wait for an existing ticket to be resolved or closed before opening another request.

This setting can help prevent:

• Duplicate support tickets
• Accidental repeated submissions
• Excessive ticket creation
• Unmanageable customer support queues

Choose a reasonable limit based on the type of support your business provides.

Ticket Submission Rate Limit

The Ticket Submission Rate Limit controls how many tickets an individual customer can submit per hour.

For example: 3 tickets per hour

limits a customer to three new ticket submissions within that period.

This provides an additional layer of protection against spam, automated submissions, and repeated ticket creation.

For public-facing WordPress support systems, combining a reasonable rate limit with account registration and reCAPTCHA can provide stronger protection against unwanted submissions.

For Existing Customers or Members

If customer accounts are already created through WooCommerce, memberships, LMS software, or another system, you may not need Smart Support frontend registration.

You can disable new registration while still allowing authorized logged-in users to access your WordPress support ticket system.

After configuring the Smart Support user management options, click Save Changes.

Test the Support Center with a normal customer account to confirm that registration, ticket submission, closing, reopening, and restrictions work as intended.