Sometimes you want an entire category of articles to share the same permission groups. That's where assigning Permissions Groups for categories comes in.
When you create an article in a category that has default permission groups set, the article will inherit those groups.
But don't worry, the two are independent unless you enforce Permission Groups. An article can have different permissions to its category and we give you an easy way to spot the difference π
Assigning Default Permission Groups to Categories
If you want all new articles within a category to take the same Permissions you can assign Permissions to a category itself. Owners, Administrators, and Editors can do this.
- Head to Content
- Hit the key icon on the category you'd like to add Permissions to
- Add your Permissions
- Hit Apply changes. This saves straight away
Enforcing Permissions on All Descendant Content
Want to make sure all content under a category follows the same permission rules? You can enforce permissions on all descendant articles and subcategories.
- Head to Content
- Click the key icon on the category
- Add your Permissions
- Check the box for Enforce permissions on all descendant content
- Hit Apply changes. This saves straight away
To turn this off, uncheck the same box. Content keeps the permissions it has, and subcategories keep enforcing until you uncheck the box on each of them too.
Moving an article into a category that enforces permissions gives it that category's permissions as soon as you save, even if the rest of your edits are still waiting to be published. Moving it out again doesn't change them. If a move would make a restricted article public, only Owners, Administrators, and Editors who can edit it can make that move.
Who Sees a Restricted Category in Content
Owners and Administrators always see every category. Editors and Writers only see the categories they have access to, so a category full of content they can't read won't appear in Content at all.
The category | What an Editor or Writer sees |
Holds an article they can see, or a subcategory that does | The category, as usual. Articles they can't see stay hidden |
Holds nothing, and either has no groups or has one of theirs | The category, ready to fill |
Holds only content they can't see | Nothing. The category is hidden |
Holds nothing, and has groups that don't include them | Nothing. The category is hidden |
Has groups that don't include them, but holds something they can see | Its name only, so the content inside has somewhere to sit. They can't edit it, move it, delete it, or add to it |
If someone can't see anything at all, Content shows No content to show, and they can still create an article. Anyone who's read-only in a category's groups can see that category, but can't change or delete it. When someone reorders categories or articles, anything hidden from them stays where it is.
Understanding Permissions Group Indicators
When you haven't got any permission groups assigned to a category the key icon is gray. Once you set permission groups there are three different indicators you'll need to look out for. Article rows use the same colors.
Indicator | What it means |
Pink key | The key turns pink if the category has Permissions or enforces them. |
Yellow key | A yellow indicator will show if the category has a parent category with permissions that differ from its own. It's nothing to worry about. It just shows that you've set different permissions on this category than its parent. |
Blue key | A blue indicator will show when one of the categories above it has enforced Permissions. You won't be able to edit this directly. |