REQUIRES: PRO PLAN OR HIGHER • Last updated: Mar 12, 2026 • ~6 min read
The Profile Types feature allows you to organize members into distinct categories – such as Students, Teachers, or Coaches – each with its own permissions, profile fields, messaging rules, visibility settings, and label colors. This manual walks you through enabling profile types, creating new ones, and configuring each of their settings.
Enabling Profile Types
To get started, navigate to your WordPress Dashboard, go to BuddyBoss > Settings > Member Profile, and click Profile Types from the left menu.
Toggle Profile Types on to activate the feature.
You can also enable Display profile type on member profiles to show the type label on each member’s profile page.
Select a Default Profile Type to apply automatically to new members at registration.
Creating a Profile Type
Click Add New Profile Type to create a new type. Each profile type requires three labels:
- Name: The profile type name used across the platform (e.g., Students).
- Singular Label: Used when referring to a single member of this type (e.g., Student).
- Plural Label: Used when referring to multiple members of this type (e.g., Students).
Click Save to create the type. You can then open its settings to configure permissions and behavior.
Members Directory Permissions
These settings control how members of this profile type appear in directory and search results across your community:
- Display this profile type in “Types” filter: Allows members to filter the directory by this type.
- Hide all members of this type from Members Directory: Removes this profile type from directory listings entirely.
- Hide all members of this type from Network Search results: Excludes this profile type from appearing in site-wide search results.
Messaging, Profile Field, and Group Permissions
These settings define how this profile type interacts with messaging, self-selection, and group creation:
- Allow this profile type to send and receive messages without being connected: When enabled, members of this type can message any other member regardless of connection status.
- Allow users to select this profile type from the “Profile Type” dropdown: Lets members choose this type for themselves from their profile settings.
- Group Creation Permissions: Choose whether members of this type can create groups – None, All Group Types, or Specific Group Types.
- Group Type Membership Approval: Select group types to automatically add members of this profile type upon account activation.
WordPress Role and Redirections
These settings link this profile type to WordPress roles and control where members land after logging in or out:
- WordPress Role: Select one WordPress role (e.g., Subscriber, Editor) to automatically assign to all members with this profile type, including existing users.
- After Login Redirection: Select the page, or add a custom URL in where members of this type are redirected to after logging in.
- After Logout Redirection: Select the page, or add a custom URL in where members of this type are redirected to after logging out.
Visibility and Label Color
The Visibility setting controls the published state of this profile type – Public, Private, Draft, or Password Protected.
The Label Color setting lets you customize how this profile type’s label appears on member profiles – select Default to use the platform’s built-in styling, or Custom to define your own background color and text color for the label.
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