Page restrictions allow you to control who can view and/or edit individual pages in a space. So, if you're working on a page that shouldn't be viewed by just anybody, it's easy to lock it down to the people who need to know. You can add restrictions for individuals or for Confluence groups. 

To add or remove page restrictions, you'll need to have permissions to edit the page and 'Restrict' or 'Admin' permission in the space.

Restrict a page

To restrict who can view or edit a page:

  1. Go to the page and choose 
     > Restrictions
  2. Choose Restrict viewing of this page or Restrict editing of this page
  3. Enter part of user or group name and choose the appropriate user or group from the autocomplete drop down

Add as many users and/or groups as you need to.

On this page:

To add restrictions when you're creating or editing a page, choose the restrictions icon at the top of the page.

 

Once you add restrictions, only those people and groups listed in the restrictions dialog will be allowed to view or edit the page.

You don't need to add someone as an editor and viewer in the restrictions dialog.  We'll check if the person is allowed to edit , and if they are, we'll let them see the page.

How restrictions are inherited

View restrictions are inherited, which means a restriction applied to one page will cascade down to any child pages.  Edit restrictions are not inherited, which means pages need to be restricted individually.

Here's the basics:

  • If you restrict viewing to a person or group, only they will be able to see that page and all its child pages (unless there are further restrictions on the child pages)
  • If you restrict editing to a person or group, they'll be able to see and edit that page, plus see its child pages.
  • Parent pages (higher up in the page hierarchy) can have their own view restrictions that may prevent people from viewing your page.

If the person you've listed as a viewer or editor can't see the page, check to make sure:

  • they have View space permission for that space, or
  • there's no view restriction on a page higher up the page hierarchy that prevents them seeing any children of that page.

View current page restrictions

Confluence displays a padlock icon in the byline when a page has view or edit restrictions.

To view the page's restrictions, go to the page and do any of the following:

    • choose 
       > Restrictions
    • choose the padlock icon in the byline
    • choose the Restricted icon  at the top of the page if you're in the editor

You'll see the page restrictions dialog listing the users and groups that have permission to view or edit the page.

Screenshot: Page Restrictions dialog showing viewing restricted to the 'developers' group and editing restricted to two users. 

Remove restrictions from a page

If you need to remove existing restrictions, choose Remove restriction next to the user or group.

Request and grant access to view a restricted page

If you navigate to a page that you're not able to view because it has page restrictions applied (for example from a link or page URL) you may be able to request access to the page. 

To request access to a restricted page:

  1. On the restricted page choose Request access
  2. Wait for an email confirming that access has been granted

If the request access message doesn't appear, you're not able to request access for that particular page. This usually is because the page has inherited view restrictions from a parent page, or you may not have adequate space permissions.

To grant access to a restricted page:

  1. In the request access email, choose Grant access
    You'll be taken to the restricted page, and a dialog will appear with the access request
  2. Choose Grant access

 

The user will receive an email confirming that access has been granted. 

This process is the same as navigating to

 > Restrictions
 and adding a 'View' restriction for the user. 

 

Who can grant access?

To grant access to a restricted page you will need to have permission to edit that page, and have the 'Restrict' or 'Admin' permission for the space.

Confluence will send an email to a user who can grant permissions. The sequence that Confluence will use to search for the appropriate user is:

  1. The last person to edit the page
  2. All non-admin users that can set permissions on the page (given that an admin user can always set permissions)
  3. The page creator
  4. All the space administrators

Confluence will try each of these roles in turn, emailing the first user that has appropriate permissions.

View all restricted pages in a space

You need space admin permissions to view the list of restricted pages in a space.

To view restricted pages:

  1. Go to the space and choose Space tools > Permissions from the bottom of the sidebar

  2. Choose Restricted Pages

If your space uses the Documentation theme:

  1. Choose Browse > Space Admin from the header

    Note: The Space Admin option appears only if you have space admin permissions, or if you're part of the 'confluence-administrators' group.

  2. Choose Restricted Pages in the space administration options

Screenshot: Restricted pages in a space

 

Notes

  • You can't exclude yourself 
    As creator or editor of a page, you can't use page restrictions to deny yourself access to the page. Confluence will automatically add your username into the list of users/groups allowed to view/edit the page. If you remove your username, Confluence will put it back again. 

  • Space Admin and System Administrator access to restricted pages 
    Users with 'Admin' permissions in a space, or users with the System Administrator global permission can remove restrictions from pages, even if the page restriction prevents them from viewing the page. Go to  Space Administration  >  Restricted Pages.

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