Restricting sections for external users

Give external users the power to publish content on your site

Once you add external users as members of sections, add publishing roles so they can create and edit their own content. Unlike internal users, an external user has to be a member of a section to view or access the section and its content.

Combine restricted sections with external user membership, and you can create exclusive areas for external users only on your site. This might be to onboard incoming staff or to consolidate your information and comms for third-party suppliers. 

Content visibility

External users can only view content created in sections they’re a member of.

If content is related to a section an external user is not a member of, but is being displayed through a widget in a section the external user is a member of — the content will not be visible.

If content is created by an external user who is a member of a section with a publishing role, and they are removed as a member of that section — the content will not be visible.

Additionally, external users can only view content in common features like feed and notifications that match their permissions.

Other restrictions for external users

External users cannot:

  • View other users’ profiles
  • Follow any other users
  • Create app content, except if they’re a member of a group
  • Create a group
  • Search from the workbar

Restricting a section

Restrict sections if you only want section members to view and access its content, as well as other related subsections and content.

To restrict a new section:

  1. Click ‘Create’ in the workbar
  2. Click ‘Section’ in the menu
  3. Add the necessary content… in title, description, etc.
  4. In the sidebar on the right, untick the checkbox next to ‘Restricted’

To restrict an existing section:

  1. Click ‘Edit’
  2. Click ‘Content’
  3. the sidebar on the right, untick the checkbox next to ‘Restricted’

These restrictions will cascade to any related subsections. That is,  when creating or editing a subsection, the restricted checkbox should be automatically ticked.

Adding an external user as a section member

External users have to be members of a section to view its subsections and related content.

To add individual members:

  1. Go to your section
  2. Click the overflow menu icon next to Edit
  3. Click ‘Manage members’
  4. Click ‘Add user’
  5. Type in the username of the external user
  6. Click their name when they appear in the list 

Note: Their name must be exact.

  1. Repeat step 6 to add multiple external users
  2. Click ‘Next’
  3. Review the added members and click ‘Confirm’ 

Adding a local publishing role to an external user

External users have to be section members to be given a local publishing role. Local publishing roles include: Publisher, Editor, Author, Moderator, Reviewer. 

To add a role to section member:

  1. Go to your section
  2. Click the overflow menu icon next to Edit
  3. Click ‘Manage members’
  4. In the table of members, tick the checkbox to next to user’s name
  5. Click the ‘Action’ menu above the table
  6. Click the ‘Add role’ 
  7. Click ‘Next’
  8. Tick the checkbox next the publishing role or roles you are adding
  9. Review the added roles and click ‘Confirm’ 

Adding a team of external users as section members

Teams can be made up of internal users or external users. You could also create one big team of external users or multiple teams of categorised external users as part of your recruitment and onboarding strategy, for example.

To add a team:

  1. Go to your section
  2. Click the overflow menu icon next to Edit
  3. Click ‘Manage members’
  4. Click the ‘Teams’ tab
  5. Click ‘Add team’
  6. Type in the username of the external user
  7. Click their name when they appear in the list 

Note: Team name must be exact.

  1. Repeat step 7 to add multiple teams
  2. Click ‘Next’

Note: If a team contains external users, you will be notified at this point.

  1. Review the added teams and click ‘Confirm’