Section-Level Permissions

Overview

By default, every authenticated member of your workspace can see all sections and pages. Section-level permissions let Admins and Owners restrict specific sections so only certain roles or specific users can access them.

Default Behavior

When you create a new section, it inherits open visibility — all workspace members (Owners, Admins, Editors, and Viewers) can browse its contents. You only need to configure permissions when you want to limit access.

Configuring Section Permissions

1. Navigate to the section you want to restrict
2. Click the ⋯ menu on the section header
3. Select Permissions
4. Choose a restriction type:
   • Restrict by role — select which roles can access this section
   • Restrict to specific users — choose individual team members
5. Click Save

Changes take effect immediately. Members who lose access no longer see the section in navigation, search results, or AI responses.

Restricting by Role

When you restrict a section by role, you choose which roles retain access. For example:

• Selecting Admin and Owner makes the section visible only to Admins and the Owner
• Selecting Editor, Admin, and Owner hides the section from Viewers
• You cannot remove your own access (the Owner always retains access to all sections)

Restricting to Specific Users

For finer control, restrict a section to individual users regardless of their role. This is useful for cross-functional projects or sensitive content that only certain people should see.

When you restrict to specific users:

• Only the listed users (plus the Owner) can see the section
• Role-based access does not apply — even an Admin outside the list cannot see the section
• You can combine individual users from different roles

Permission Inheritance

Permissions cascade downward through the section hierarchy. When you restrict a parent section:

• All sub-sections within it inherit the same restriction
• Pages inside the section and its sub-sections follow the parent's permission
• You cannot grant broader access to a sub-section than its parent allows

For example, if you restrict the "HR Policies" section to Admins only, every sub-section and page within "HR Policies" is also restricted to Admins. You can further narrow a sub-section (for instance, restricting "Compensation" to specific users), but you cannot open it back up to all roles while the parent remains restricted.

For more on organizing content into sections, see Sections.

Impact on Search and the AI Knowledge Agent

Section permissions are enforced everywhere:

• Navigation — Restricted sections do not appear in the sidebar for unauthorized users
• Search results — Pages in restricted sections are excluded from search results for unauthorized users
• AI Knowledge Agent — The agent never cites or surfaces content from sections a user cannot access. If a user asks a question and the answer exists only in a restricted section they cannot see, the agent responds as if that content does not exist

This means you can store sensitive information in restricted sections with confidence that it remains invisible to unauthorized members, even through AI-powered interactions. Learn more about how the AI agent handles permissions in the AI Knowledge Agent Overview.

Common Use Cases

HR and People Operations

Restrict sections containing compensation data, performance reviews, or policy drafts to the HR team (specific users) or Admins only.

Engineering and Security

Keep security runbooks, incident post-mortems, or infrastructure documentation restricted to your engineering team.

Leadership and Strategy

Create a section for board materials, strategic planning, or financial forecasts visible only to executives.

Client-Specific Projects

Restrict project sections to team members assigned to that client, preventing cross-contamination between accounts.

Tips

• Start open, restrict as needed — you can always add restrictions later without disrupting existing content
• Use role-based restrictions for broad categories and user-based restrictions for sensitive edge cases
• Review permissions periodically as team members change roles or leave the organization
• Remember that the Owner always has access, regardless of permission settings

For workspace-wide settings and defaults, see Workspace Settings.