The first hour in Odoo 17 belongs to two screens: the company record, which supplies the name, address, tax number, currency, logo and language that every invoice and report inherits, and the users list, where each person gets a login and the application groups that decide what they can see. Both are far harder to unpick once data has been loaded, so get them right first.
Once you log in to Odoo 17 for the first time, head to:
Settings → Companies → Update Company Info
Here's what to fill in:
- 📛 Company Name
- 🌐 Website and Email
- 📍 Address and Contact Info
- 🪪 VAT/GST/Tax ID (important for invoicing and compliance)
- 🖼️ Company Logo (shows up on invoices, website, reports)
Pro Tip: Set your company's default currency and language upfront. It ensures consistency in reports, pricing, and email templates.
Step 2: Adding Users and Managing Access Rights
To add your team:
Settings → Users & Companies → Users → Create
Required fields:
- Email address (used as login)
- Name
- Language (for localized UI)
Then, assign them roles (like "Sales", "Inventory", "Accounting") — Odoo uses these selections to automatically assign access rights.
For upgraders:
You can bulk import users via CSV or migrate them using your partner's scripts. Be sure to review access rights — Odoo 17 has updated group names and added security layers.
Step 3: Understanding User Roles and Groups
Each app in Odoo comes with pre-defined access levels, typically:
- User: Can access day-to-day features
- Manager: Can see reports, approve records, and manage users
- Administrator: Full control (use with caution!)
You can view or customize these in:
Settings → Technical → Security → Groups
Example: The "Sales / Manager" group has access to reports, margin visibility, and pricing controls.
Tip: Never assign users the full "Settings" access unless they are your ERP admin or project lead — it gives unrestricted control across apps.
Step 4: Managing Multi-Company Environments
If you manage multiple companies under one Odoo instance:
- Enable multi-company mode in Settings
- Add each company via Settings → Companies → Create
- Set user access per company (some can access all, others only one)
- Odoo keeps data separate for each company (products, customers, accounting)
This setup is ideal for holding companies, franchises, or regional branches with shared systems.
Upgrading from an Older Version? Read This
If you're upgrading from Odoo 13–16:
- Review all user groups — some have changed or been renamed in v17
- Re-check access to custom modules (Studio apps may require updates)
- Don't copy/paste database — use the official migration service or a partner
Need help migrating users and permissions? Most Odoo partners offer tools to automate this safely and ensure no one loses access or data.
Conclusion
Properly setting up your company and users is the foundation of a successful Odoo implementation. Odoo 17 gives you powerful tools to manage access, roles, and data securely — whether you're starting fresh or upgrading from an earlier version.
Need help configuring your Odoo 17 users and company structure? We'll help you get it right the first time.
Questions we get asked
How do access rights work in Odoo 17?
Each app defines groups, usually a user level and a manager or administrator level, and you pick one per app on the user's Access Rights tab. Groups grant create, read, write and delete permissions per model, and record rules narrow those further, for instance limiting a salesperson to their own opportunities. Settings access unlocks configuration everywhere, so give it to very few people.
Do portal users count against my Odoo 17 subscription?
No. Portal users, meaning the customers and vendors who sign in to see their own quotations, orders, invoices and tickets, are free, as are anonymous website visitors. Only internal users are billed. That makes the portal the right way to give an outside party visibility into their own documents without creating an internal account for them.
Can one Odoo 17 database hold several companies?
Yes. Multi-company is built into Odoo 17: each company keeps its own chart of accounts, journals, sequences and documents, while contacts and products can be shared. A user is given a list of allowed companies and switches between them, or works in several at once with the company selector. Automatic inter-company document mirroring is an Odoo 17 Enterprise feature.
Can I enable two-factor authentication in Odoo 17?
Yes. Odoo 17 supports time-based one-time passwords, so any user can turn two-factor authentication on from their preferences and scan the code into an authenticator app, and an administrator can enforce it across the database from the general settings. For a database holding accounting or HR data it is worth making mandatory for everyone with Settings access.