When you have a website with different users and their own permissions, sometimes it is useful to log in as another user to see what they can see on the website.

If a user has problems ordering from the webshop or can't find the downloads, you can ask him for his login details, but of course that doesn't look very professional.

Joomlashack User Switching plugin

With Shack User Switching, you can test every user account on your website without compromising their passwords. With one click, you can browse through your site and see exactly what your users see. This is a safe and convenient way to solve problems for your site's users.

You can download this (paid) plugin at: https://www.joomlashack.com/joomla-extensions/shack-user-switching/

The idea is that you log in with your user's username, with the password belonging to your (super-user) account.

Installation and configuration of the Shack User Switching plugin

After installation, go to extensions > plugins and look for the "Authentication - Shack User Switching" plugin.

You open this plugin to change its settings.

Of course, security is always paramount and you don't want people to be able to abuse this.

Enter a resticted IP Address. This way, you can only use this login option when you try to log in via this ip address.

If you want to allow multiple ip addresses, create a comma-separated list.

In Safe mode, only specific accounts can use this plugin. By default, no accounts are allowed, so you have to enter your own user ID to use this extension. This can be a single user ID or a comma-separated list.

In Advanced mode, it is important that this is set correctly because all users in this user group can switch to other users. By default, it is set to the user groups that have access to core.admin and core.manage permissions, which are usually administrator and super user groups.

Restricted User Groups: Users are not allowed to log in as users in these groups. For example, if Managers are set up, no one is allowed to log in as another Manager.

Then save the changes.

Now go to the frontend of your website and login with the visitor's username and enter your own password. You are now logged in as the other user and see what he can see on your website.