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Privacy settings control the visibility of member data. As an admin, you set organization-wide defaults. Members can then adjust their own privacy — but only to make things more private, never more public than your defaults allow. The core question: For each piece of profile data (name, email, phone, etc.), who should see it — all community members, or only admins? Default Privacy Settings showing toggles for field visibility — Name and Profile Image on, Email, Phone, and Age off, Town and Profession on

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How it works

Privacy operates on two levels:
  1. Admin defaults — You set the starting point for all members
  2. Member overrides — Individual members can restrict their own data further
A member can hide their phone number even if you’ve set it to visible by default. But they cannot make their phone number visible if you’ve restricted it to admin-only.

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Setting admin defaults

Settings → Users & Profiles → Privacy Defaults

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What each field controls

When in doubt, default to private. Members who want to share can opt in. It’s easier to open up than to lock down after members have already been exposed.

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Member privacy controls

Members manage their own privacy at Profile → Settings & Privacy → Privacy. Settings & Privacy tab showing privacy toggles for each data category The member’s privacy page (under Settings & Privacy → Privacy) shows the same field categories as the admin defaults, but as personal overrides. Each category has a toggle — blue/ON means “All community” (shared with other members), gray/OFF means “Only by admins” (hidden from other members). A master toggle at the top — Make my profile completely private — overrides all individual settings to restrict everything to admins only. The subtitle under each toggle shows the current visibility level (e.g., “All community” or “Only by admins”).

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The “completely private” toggle

Make my profile completely private is a master override. When a member enables this:
  • All their profile data is hidden from other members
  • Only organization admins can see their information
  • They essentially become invisible in the member directory
This is useful for members who want to participate in the organization but don’t want a public-facing profile.

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How defaults and overrides interact

The key rule: Members can only restrict, never expand. If you set email to admin-only, no member can make their email publicly visible — even if they want to.

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Common scenarios

Check your privacy defaults. If Name and Profile Image are set to admin-only, members appear as anonymous entries in the directory. Set at least Name to community-visible so members can identify each other.
You’d need to change the admin default for Email to community-visible. This affects all members, not just one person. If most members want email private, keep the default and suggest the member add their email to their bio or social links instead.
GDPR requires that members can control their own data visibility. Orgo’s privacy settings satisfy this:
  • Members can restrict any field to admin-only
  • Members can make their profile completely private
  • Members can delete their account entirely
As a best practice, default sensitive fields (email, phone, age) to admin-only and let members opt in to sharing.
Admin defaults apply to new members and to anyone who hasn’t customized their personal settings. If a member has already set their own privacy preferences, changing the admin defaults won’t override their choices. The defaults only set the starting point.

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Can members export the member directory?

No. Exporting members to CSV requires HR permissions or higher, so an ordinary member cannot download the directory even for fields they are allowed to see on screen. This is worth knowing when you are deciding how open your privacy defaults should be. Making a field visible to members means they can see it on a profile, not that they can extract it in bulk. The two are enforced separately. Administrators and anyone with HR permissions can export, so if you are concerned about bulk access to member data, the control you want is who holds those permissions rather than which fields are visible.