What the Private function does

The private option:

• Lets you force users to log on to read items
• Allows you to restrict who can read items
• Allows you to restrict who can edit or upload items.

It works for articles, files and news items, and can be applied at individual item level and at category level.

Using the Private function  

Force users to log on

If you mark an item as private read and do not assign roles:

• Users must log on to read the item
• Any user who is logged on can read it
• In the Public area users will not see the item until they are logged on
• In the Admin area all users will see the item.

If you mark an item as both private read and private write and do not assign any roles:

• Users must log on to read the item
• Users who are not logged on cannot see the item.

Restrict read access

If you mark an item as private read and do assign roles:

• Users must log on to read item
• Only users who belong to the nominated role can read the item
• In the Public area, users who do not belong to the nominated role cannot see the item
• All users in the Admin area can see the item.

Restrict write access

If you mark an item as private write and do assign roles:

• All users can read the item
• Only users who belong to the nominated role can create, edit or update the item
• For articles, users will not see Edit Article and Quick Edit options in the Public view if they do not belong to the correct role

Note that if you mark an item as private write and do not assign roles:

• All users can see and read the item
• All users logged in to the Admin area with appropriate privileges can edit the item.

Restrict both read and write access

If you mark an item as both private read and private write and do assign roles:

• Users must log on to read the item
• Only users who belong to the nominated role can see or read the item
• Only users who belong to the nominated role can create, edit or post the item
• In the Public area, users who do not belong to the nominated role cannot see the item
• In the Admin area, users who do not belong to the nominated role cannot see the item

Note that private items work in conjunction with privileges. A user who does not have, say, author privileges, will still not be able to create articles even if they are assigned to a role that allows them access via private write.

Set up private read, write, and unlisted

To restrict whole categories:

• Edit the file category.
• Choose Private Read if you wish to force users to log on and/or to restrict who can see files in this category. Choose Private Write if you wish to allow everyone to see and open files in the category but only people who have the specified roles to manage them (e.g. upload, delete). Choose both Private Read and Private Write if you wish to restrict who can read files and also who can manage them in the category.
• This brings up another option, Access for assigned roles only.
  By default, this is set to None, which means that users must log on to see and open files in this category, but anyone can see them once they have logged on.
• Select which roles users must belong to in order to read/manage files in the category.
• Click Save.

To restrict access to a single file:

• Edit the file.
• Choose Private Read if you wish to force users to log on to read the file or you wish to restrict who can see or open it. Choose Private Write if you wish to allow everyone to see and open the file but only people who have the specified roles to manage (e.g. delete) it. Choose both Private Read and Private Write if you wish to restrict who can see or open the file and who can manage it.
• This brings up another option, Access for selected roles only.
  By default, this is set to None, which means that the file is private, but all users can read it once they have logged on.
• Select which roles users must belong to in order to read/manage the file.
• Click Save.

To make a single file unlisted:

• Edit the file.
• Choose Private Unlisted if you wish to make the file available only for users who has a link to the file. The file will be hidden in Downloads of Public area as well as in search results.
• Click Save.
• In the Details section, you can copy a link for opening or downloading the file, and then give the link to a user.