# Enabling partner accounts and external users

*Experience Cloud Consultant Study Guide · User Creation and Authentication · Last updated October 24, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/enabling-partner-accounts-and-external-users*

The enablement steps for customer and partner users: Enable as Partner on a business account, Enable Customer User or Enable Partner User on a contact, the account-owner role requirement, holding back passwords until a site is active, the permissions to create and log in as external users, and the license upgrade paths and their one-way effects.

- Certification: Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant
- Exam section: User Creation and Authentication
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Apply the steps for enabling partner and customer users for Experiences.

## What the exam expects

- Apply the enablement order: business account (or person account), Enable as Partner for partners, then Enable Customer User or Enable Partner User on the contact with license, profile and role.
- Diagnose blocked enablement: no partner action, an account owner without a role, missing page-layout actions.
- Create users before launch without sending passwords early.
- Grant least-privilege permissions to create, edit and log in as external users.
- Choose the right path for a license upgrade and explain what it changes for good.

Key terms: **partner account** (a business account enabled as a partner, owned by a channel manager); **Enable Customer User / Enable Partner User** (contact actions that create the external user); **Manage External Users** (permission to create and edit customer and partner users); **Manage Customer Users** (the same for Customer Community and Customer Community Plus users only); **license upgrade** (moving a user to Customer Community Plus or Partner Community).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Partner user prerequisite | Account enabled as a partner account | [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Customer user prerequisite | Account owner assigned a role | [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Site not active | Deselect Generate new password and notify user immediately; no email is queued | [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Manage External Users (Limited) | Only users you have Read and Write access to | [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Log in as a customer or partner user | User-management permission plus Edit on Accounts | [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Partner accounts | Business accounts only; can't be deleted, only disabled | [Create Partner Accounts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=experience.networks_partner_community_create_account.htm&type=5) |
| Lightning actions | Enable as Partner and Disable Partner Account go on the Account layout's actions section | [Considerations When Creating Partner Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.exp_cloud_partner_create_considerations.htm&type=5) |
| Role-requiring upgrade | Irreversible | [Experience Cloud Licenses Eligible for Upgrades](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_license_upgrade_eligible.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Upgrade side effect | Sharing sets, permission sets and PSL assignments removed | [Experience Cloud Licenses Eligible for Upgrades](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_license_upgrade_eligible.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why does enabling a customer user fail when an integration user owns the account?
- When can a Customer Community user be upgraded by editing the user record?
- Why can't an upgrade from Customer Community to Customer Community Plus be undone?
- What lets a channel manager edit only the partner users she can access?

## Sources

- [Create Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_create_external_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Create Partner Accounts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=experience.networks_partner_community_create_account.htm&type=5)
- [Considerations When Creating Partner Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.exp_cloud_partner_create_considerations.htm&type=5)
- [Experience Cloud Licenses Eligible for Upgrades](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_license_upgrade_eligible.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=5)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 10 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Experience Cloud Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams