Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant Test

What controls access to related objects of records a user does not own?

1. Profile settings

2. Manual sharing settings

3. Org-wide defaults

4. Account roles

The correct answer is: Org-wide defaults

Access to related objects of records a user does not own is controlled by org-wide defaults (OWD). Org-wide defaults define the baseline level of access users have to records they do not own, regardless of any other permission settings that exist in the organization. This setting dictates the sharing rules and access levels at the highest level. For instance, if the OWD is set to 'Private' for a particular object, users will only be able to see records they own, unless additional sharing rules are applied. Conversely, if the OWD is set to 'Public Read Only,' users can view records they don't own, but cannot edit them unless granted specific permissions. The other options have specific roles in managing access and permissions within Salesforce, but they do not establish the overarching guidelines like org-wide defaults do. Profile settings primarily dictate what users can do with the records they own; manual sharing settings are used for temporary sharing adjustments; and account roles affect hierarchy-based sharing, but they do not set baseline access levels for related objects across the organization. Thus, org-wide defaults serve as the primary control for access to records not owned by a user.