Standard profiles and Minimum Access clones
Key Takeaway
Salesforce recommends starting users on the Minimum Access - Salesforce profile, or a clone of it, and then adding access through permission sets and permission set groups.
A profile sets the default settings for a user, and you assign one to each user when you create them. Every org comes with standard profiles, which you can assign but can change only a little. To change more, you clone an existing profile into a custom profile.
Standard profiles and custom profiles
Standard profiles and custom profiles differ in where they are available and in what you can edit.
| Standard profile | Custom profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Where available | Every org includes standard profiles. Your edition determines which ones are available. | Editions that include them, such as Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer |
| What you can edit | Not the permissions. You can edit only Custom App Settings, Tab Settings, Desktop Integration Clients options, Session Settings, and Password Policies. | All permissions and settings except the user license |
In Contact Manager and Group Edition orgs, you can assign standard profiles to users, but you can't view or edit them. You also can't create custom profiles in those orgs.