Why can't I see or edit this?

What the workspace-access screen and Read-only controls mean, and how to grant the access that's missing.

Last updated · 10 November 2026

OneForce Care blocks you in three different ways depending on what’s missing: no workspace selected, no access to a screen at all, or access to see a screen but not to change it. Each shows a different message, and each has a different fix.

Note

This only applies to provider employees. Owners and admins always have full access to every enabled day-to-day screen regardless of a custom role. Some Account tabs are owner-only, and workspace feature switches still apply. Support workers use the mobile app for their shifts. A support-worker login cannot open office business screens, even if a custom role grants them.

“Choose an active provider workspace…”

Error

“Choose an active provider workspace before …”

Means: The action needs an active workspace, but none is selected or the session could not establish one. The message ending names the attempted action.

Fix: Check your active workspace, then retry. If it should already be selected, refresh or sign out and back in.

This is the one error in this list that isn’t about your role. It means no provider workspace is currently active in your session at all, so the platform has nowhere to check permissions against. If you belong to more than one provider, use the workspace switcher at the top of the app to pick one. If you only belong to one, it should select itself; if the error keeps coming back, sign out and back in.

“Waiting for workspace access”

If you open a screen your role has no Read permission for at all (by URL, an old bookmark, or a link someone sent you), OneForce Care redirects you to a dedicated page rather than showing a blocked version of the screen:

The page is headed Workspace access, shows your workspace and Account active, and says Waiting for workspace access. It explains: “You’re signed in. Your provider needs to assign a role with access to the screens and actions you need.” The two actions for an admin are Create or choose a role and Assign the role to your account. Your normal top navigation only offers screens your account can access.

To fix it, a provider owner or admin needs to either:

Open Account›Organisation, find your role under Role-based access, and tick Read for the screen (see Roles and permissions), or
Open your worker profile’s Access tab and assign you a different access role that already has it.

There’s no self-service option here: only an owner or admin can change roles or reassign one to you.

“Read-only. …”

If your role can Read a screen but is missing Add, Edit or Delete on it, the screen itself can still open. It may show a Read-only warning or hide or disable the controls that need the missing action. The presentation depends on where you are:

Where you see it	What you see	What your role is missing
A participant’s profile	“Read-only. Your role does not have edit access.”	Edit on Participants
Scheduling	“Read-only. Your role cannot create, edit, or assign shifts.”	Edit on Scheduling
A directory contact	“Read-only. Your role does not have edit access.”	Edit on Directory
Workforce > Availability	Editing controls are unavailable.	Edit on Workers; collection settings separately need Settings edit. The worker profile tab is a read-only summary.
A worker’s Compliance tab	“Read-only. Your role cannot save compliance decisions.”	Edit on Workers
A worker’s Payroll tab	“Read-only. Your role does not have edit access.”	Edit on Workers
A worker’s Details tab	“Read-only. Your role does not have edit access.”	Edit on Workers
A worker’s Access tab	“Read-only. Only an owner or admin can change account type or role.”	Nothing a role can grant; owner or admin only
Finance›Billing	“Read-only. Your role cannot create or finalise charge rows.”	No Add or Edit on Invoicing
Finance > Invoicing, payment actions	Payment-entry fields are unavailable; an entry editor can say “You need payments edit access to change this record.”	Edit on Payments
Finance›Invoicing	Create credit is not offered without the required permission and eligible invoice lines.	Add on Invoicing
Notes, on a participant or worker profile	“Read-only. Your role cannot add notes.”	Edit on Participants or Workers

To fix any of these, a provider owner or admin opens Account›Organisation, edits the role under Role-based access, and ticks the missing action for that screen (see Roles and permissions). The one exception is a worker’s own Access tab: account type and access role can only be changed by an owner or admin directly, never by a role permission, so that row in the table above has no matching setting to grant.

Tip

Setting up a new team member? Give them the narrowest role that covers what they actually do, then widen it later if a Read-only banner tells you something’s missing, rather than starting everyone on a role with every action ticked.

A module was switched off

Ask the owner to check Account > Features. A custom role cannot enable a disabled module. Payroll and Invoicing start off, and switching them on after a shift starts does not change the financial choices saved at its first clock-in. Follow Workspace features. If normal access was closed for the entire organisation, use Workspace recovery instead of changing employee roles.

Match the missing action to the actual permission

If a coordinator can read Mavis’s profile but cannot add or change a goal, ask the owner or admin to check Participants Edit on the coordinator’s assigned role. If they can read an invoice but cannot record its receipt, check Payments Edit. Creating a credit instead needs Invoicing Add; granting one finance action does not grant the other.

After a role change, refresh or sign in again and retry the intended task. Check the workspace and enabled module first if the screen still does not appear. A finalised, issued, archived or Xero-managed record can also be protected even when the role is correct; follow the record’s correction workflow rather than giving broader access to overcome its state.