# Using CSS to hide specific elements based on user role

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-css-to-hide-specific-elements-based-on-user-role/248121
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 7, 2022, 9:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-css-to-hide-specific-elements-based-on-user-role/248121 "2022-12-07T09:17:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### Author: ![JammyDodger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jammydodger/32/254611_2.png) [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2022, 10:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-css-to-hide-specific-elements-based-on-user-role/248121/2 "2022-12-07T10:05:54Z")

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Hello and welcome @UnitedFreedom 🙂

Any CSS changes would only be cosmetic, and could easily be sidestepped by tweaking the page in the browser console. However…

> [@UnitedFreedom](#):
>
> **My main concerns are that Moderators can…**  
> A) Access Private Messages of any user.  
> B) Access the reports area.  
> C) Other areas of concern I have yet to find!

Just to put your mind at ease, Moderators don’t have unfettered access to Personal Messages, they can only view them if someone flags one. 👍 (As opposed to Admins, who can see everything on the site)

I don’t think the reports are particularly sensitive and can be quite useful for moderators to have access to, but there are a couple of admin settings that target the report/dashboard area that you may find useful (though they would apply to both Mods and Admin):

- You can hide the Reports tab without using custom CSS by using the `dashboard visible tabs` admin setting (though they could still access the page using the `/admin/dashboard/reports` link.
- The `dashboard hidden reports` admin setting can remove specific reports from the list (you’d need to use their names, which you can get from their URL. eg Admin Logins would be `staff_logins`)
- You can choose what to display on the dashboard using `dashboard general tab activity metrics`

 ![dashboard settings](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/c/d/fcd19423b2ee27b799679cdf30946c1293b42fe9.png)

There are also a few extra admin settings that are disabled by default, but would allow moderators to view emails, change post ownership, and create and manage categories and groups:

 ![extra mod powers](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/b/b/d/bbde83eb5ce9a232b4a9aad00b9f514956589347.png)

However, if you think full mods have too much power for your site you could opt for Category Moderation instead. This would elevate certain groups to have enhanced powers for specific categories. They would have access to the Review Queue for flags and post approvals for their categories, as well as edit, delete, split, merge, etc but not have the full suite of powers and access a Moderator would have.

You can see an overview of the differences in [Trust Level Permissions Reference](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trust-level-permissions-table-inc-moderator-roles/224824)

You can enable Category Moderation using the `enable category group moderation` admin setting, and then setting a group per category in the Settings tab of the category wrench menu:

 ![enable category group moderation](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/d/8/8/d88879af369739318a978bdc9cdbb5aa1c463ff7.png)

Making some highly trusted users TL4s can also be really useful to assist with moderation too.

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