What is Item Level Security (ILS)?

Related topics
	If item level security is enabled on a folder, folder caching is not performed on the folder.

Item Level Security (ILS) is a mechanism which allows controlled and granular access to specific items in a given folder. ILS authorizes item owners to grant explicit item access to user(s) and group(s) who would otherwise not be authorized. By default, items inherit folder level security which means that only those users or groups who are authorized to access a given folder can access items in that folder. If ILS is enabled at the folder level, all items in the folder will initially use the security applied to the folder. However, item owners can also choose to grant explicit access on a given item to specific user(s) and/or group(s). For example, a user granted the "View Content" privilege at the folder level would be authorized to edit the item if the item owner explicitly grants the "Manage Items" or "Own Items" privileges at the item level. Why is ILS useful? ILS is useful in the following cases: Explicitly grant access to a specific item to a user(s) or group(s) who does not have any folder level privileges. This would grant them access to the specific item(s), yet still restrict them from other items in the folder. Restrict access to specific items in a folder to users or groups that have folder level privileges. However, content area administrators, folder owners, and authorized users with the Manage Items privilege (folder managers) have the highest level privilege on all items in the folder. They cannot have their privilege superseded by an item level privilege. For example, if a user has the "Manage Items" privilege at the folder level but is not granted any item-level privilege, this user is still authorized to manage the item regardless. Item level privileges The following table lists the possible actions you can perform on an item given a user's item level privilege: If you are granted this item privilege You can peform these actions on the specific item Own Item Edit the item, delete the item, add sub-items, grant privileges on the item, and view the item. Note: Only those users or groups with the Own Item privilege is authorized to grant item-level access to other users and groups. Manage Item Edit the item, delete the item, add sub-items, and view the item. View Item View the item. Note: The Edit folder link may not be displayed at the top-right of the folder page if the user does not have the Manage Items or higher privilege at the folder level. Note: Only users granted the Manage Items or higher privilege at the folder level can add sub-items. Steps to enable item level security The following steps must be performed to enable item level security on a specific item: The folder owner or content area administer must enable Item Level Security from the appropriate Folder Manager: Access tab. Granting privileges on items is only available when ILS is enabled on a given folder. When Item Level Security is enabled on a folder, the Item Manager: Access tab appears when you edit an item in that folder. The item owner can choose between inheriting the parent folder's access privileges or defining item level access privileges for the item. If the latter is selected, the item owner is authorized to grant access privileges to specific users and groups.

Note

There is no relationship between item level security and item version control. The latter feature enables groups of users to edit items via a check-in and check-out process, thus restricting a user from accidentally editing or overwriting an item if it is already checked-out by another user. See Checking an item in and out.

Related Topics
What is an item? Adding an item What is a folder?	Expiring an item Granting access privileges to your folder

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