When you give someone access to a workspace, they automatically get access to everything inside it; such as languages, categories, and articles. This automatic flow of permissions is called inheritance, and it helps you avoid assigning access manually at every level. However, if you want to restrict access to a specific section, you can use Block inheritance. Once enabled, the automatic access from the parent level stops at that point, and only the users you manually add will be able to view that content. This works like locking a room inside a building; even if someone can enter the building, they still need a separate key to access that particular room.
When should you use Block inheritance
Use Block inheritance when a specific section of your content needs tighter or different access than the rest.
Common situations:
An internal category (like "Security Runbooks") lives inside a workspace the whole team can access, but only the security team should see it.
A section visible to readers is confidential to one customer group, even though the parent category is open to all readers.
You want to clean up accumulated permissions and start fresh with a specific list.
If none of these apply, leave inheritance on. Blocking it adds complexity and makes permissions harder to manage over time.
How Block inheritance works
Blocking inheritance works top-down. When you block at a higher level, everything below it is blocked too. The full chain in Document360 is:
Project → Workspace (version) → Language → Category → Subcategory / Article
A block placed at any level cascades to every level below it.
If you block at... | This also gets blocked |
|---|---|
Workspace | All languages, categories, and articles inside it |
Language | All categories and articles inside that language |
Category | All subcategories and articles inside it |
Article | Only that article |
Example: If you block inheritance at the Workspace level, no inherited user or reader can access any language, category, or article inside that workspace unless you explicitly add them back.
This is important to understand before you turn on the toggle, because the effect is immediate and broad.
Block inheritance works separately for Users and Readers
Blocking inheritance for your users has no effect on your readers. Blocking it for your readers has no effect on your users. They are fully independent, changing one never changes the other.
Blocking inheritance for your Users (Portal access)
This controls who on your team can access and manage content in the portal, including Owners, Admins, Editors, Draft Writers, and custom roles. When you block inheritance at any level, only the users you manually add will be able to access that content. All other users will lose access, even if they previously inherited it from a parent level.
To learn how to block inheritance for your team, see Block inheritance for Users and User groups.
Blocking inheritance for your Readers (Knowledge base site)
This controls who can read your published knowledge base. Your readers are individual reader accounts or reader groups (for example, customers or partners). When you block inheritance for readers at any content level, only the readers or reader groups you explicitly add will be able to see that content on the site.
To learn how to block inheritance for your readers, see Block inheritance for Readers and Reader groups.
Block inheritance for Users and User groups
Block content access at Workspace or Language level
For example, you have six inherited users in Workspace 1 and want to provide access only to one user and yourself.
Navigate to Settings () > Users & permissions in the left navigation bar in the Knowledge base portal.
In the left navigation pane, navigate to Content access.
Select the required workspace & language.
Turn on the Block inherited account toggle in the Manage content access tab.
All inherited team members lose access. Only you (the person who blocked) retain access.
After blocking, only users with explicit access to this workspace are displayed.
To grant access to specific users after blocking, click Assign workspace access and select the required users or user groups. To learn more, refer Content access.
To restore inherited access, turn off the Block inherited account toggle.
Block content access at category or article level
To block access to users or user groups for a category or article,
Navigate to Documentation () and hover the mouse pointer over the desired category/article in the Categories & Articles pane.
Click the More () icon that appears next to the category/article name.
Click Security, then choose Knowledge base portal Access control to manage content access for users and user groups.
The Assign control access: Knowledge base portal panel appears with the list of users and user groups that have access to the selected content level.
Turn on the Block inherited account toggle.
This filters out all inherited accounts, so only users and user groups with explicit access at this level are displayed.
By default, the user performing this action would be selected and cannot be removed.
To restore inherited access, turn off the Block inherited account toggle and click Yes in the Allow inheritance confirmation prompt.
Block inheritance for Readers and Reader groups
After migrating to inherited permissions, readers and reader groups automatically gain inherited access to all content below the level they were granted access to. Use block inheritance to stop this at a specific workspace/language/category/article level.
Block content access at Workspace or Language level
To block access to readers or readers group
Navigate to Settings () > Users & permissions in the left navigation bar in the Knowledge base portal.
In the left navigation pane, navigate to Reader access.
Select the required workspace & language.
Turn on the Block inherited access toggle in the Manage content access tab.
Now, inherited and future readers will not have access to this workspace or language. You can add readers or reader groups explicitly to grant access. To learn more, refer Site access.
To restore inherited access, turn off the Block inherited access toggle.
Block content access at category or article level
Navigate to Documentation () and hover the mouse pointer over the desired category/article in the Categories & Articles pane.
Click the More () icon that appears next to the category/article name.
Click Security, then choose Knowledge base site Access control to manage content access for readers and reader groups.
The Assign control access: Knowledge base site panel appears with the list of readers and reader groups that have access to the selected content level.
Turn on the Block inherited access toggle, then click Save.
This filters out all inherited accounts, so only readers and reader groups with explicit access at this level are displayed. By default, the user performing this action would be selected and cannot be removed.
To restore inherited access, turn off the Block inherited account toggle and click Yes in the Allow inheritance confirmation prompt.
FAQ
What happens to inherited users when I block?
All users who previously had inherited access will immediately lose access to that content and everything under it. They will no longer see it in the portal or on the site unless you add them explicitly.
If you later add new users at the parent level, they also will not automatically get access to the blocked section. You must add them explicitly.
Is the user performing the action automatically selected when blocking inheritance?
Yes, the user performing the action will be automatically selected and cannot be removed.
Can I still add new users after blocking inheritance?
Yes. Blocking inheritance only removes inherited access. You can manually add any user, user group, reader, or reader group at any time after blocking.
Does blocking at one level affect content above it?
No. Blocking only affects the selected level and everything below it. Content at the same level or above is not affected.
Why are some users not visible when assigning workflow status after enabling Block inherited account?
When Block inherited account is enabled for a category, or article, only users and user groups explicitly granted access at that level can access the content. As a result, when updating the workflow status, the Assignee dropdown will display only those users who have effective access to the selected content. Inherited users and future users who no longer have access will not appear in the list.
To assign additional users, first grant them content access, and then update the workflow status.