Managing document permissions

By default, all documents created in a project (e.g. Bills, SIs, draft amendments, official amendment lists) are visible to and editable by all users in the same organisation as the user who created the document. When you create a project, the first document that is automatically created in that project will, in the same way, be visible to all users in your organisation.

Projects do not have separate permissions of their own. Instead, who can see and access a project (on the Dashboard) is determined by the documents inside the project. If there is at least one document in the project that a user has access to then the user will be able to see the project on their dashboard.

You can restrict access to documents on the Project Tab (e.g. Bills, SIs, Finance Bill resolution documents) so that only specific users in your organisation can view or edit them. At the moment you can’t restrict access to draft amendments or official amendment lists.

How to restrict permissions when creating a new project

You can restrict access to the first document in a new project (and therefore access to the project itself) at the time of creating the project:

1. Click on the +New button on the dashboard.

2. Fill in the mandatory new project information.

3. Click on the Manage Permissions button.

4. Select Only specific users in my organisation to over-ride the default permissions.

5. Select users from your organisation that you want to restrict the document to.

6. Click on the Update button.

7. When you click on Create a project will be created but only the selected users will be able to see it on the dashboard and access the document in it.

How to restrict permissions when creating a new document within a project

1. Click on the +New button on the 'Project' tab

2. Fill in the mandatory new document information

3. Click on the Manage Permissions button

4. Select Only specific users in my organisation to over-ride the default permissions.

5. Select users from your organisation that you want to restrict the document to.

6. Click on the Update button.

7. Click on the Create button.

How to restrict permissions when uploading a document within a project

1. Click on the +Upload Document button on the dashboard

2. Fill in the mandatory new document information

3. Click on the Manage Permissions button

4. Select Only specific users in my organisation to over-ride the default permissions.

5. Select users from your organisation that you want to restrict the document to.

6. Click on the Update button.

7. Click on the Upload button.

How to change permissions on an existing document

1. On the Project Tab, select Actions > Manage permissions on the document you want to update.

2. Select the appropriate radio button or add/remove user names as required.

3. Click on the Update button.

• Duplicating a document and copying a document to another project will retain the existing document permissions. 

• If you share a document with another organisation, all users in that organisation will be able to view the read-only significant version that is created.  Additionally, all users in your organisation will be able to view the significant version, even if the original working version had restricted access.

• If you update the permissions to a document this may affect who can see and access the project.

• A Document Administrator in an organisation can view all documents created by users in their organisation.  However they will not be able to edit documents with restricted permissions unless they are named as an editor of that document.