Managing Permissions in the Content Management System

Beta Feature Liferay DXP 2025.Q4+

Important

Currently, this feature is behind a beta feature flag (LPD-17564) and also depends on release feature flags (LPS-179669 and LPD-34594). Read Feature Flags for more information.

Space admins configure permissions for spaces and other CMS elements, including folders, assets, vocabularies, categories, and content structures.

They can also define default permissions at the space or folder level so new content, files, and folders automatically follow a consistent configuration.

See Content Management System Permission Reference for a complete list of available CMS permissions.

Managing Space Permissions

  1. Open the space.

  2. In the space overview, click Actions (Actions Menu) → Permissions next to the space name (1).

  3. Alternatively, navigate to All Spaces, click Actions (Actions icon) → Permissions for the space you want to configure (2).

  4. For each role, check the boxes to assign permissions.

  5. Click Save.

Access the space overview or the All Spaces section to manage permissions for a space.

Managing Permissions For Other Elements

You can configure permissions individually for folders, content structures, assets, vocabularies, and categories when you need more granular control than the default permissions applied at the space/folder level.

  1. Open the (Global Menu) and click CMS.

  2. In the left menu, select what you want to configure:

    • Contents or Files under Assets for content, files, and folders.

    • Content Structures under Admin for content structures.

    • Categorization under Admin for vocabularies and categories.

  3. Click the item’s Actions (Actions Menu) → Permissions.

  4. For each role, check the boxes to assign permissions.

  5. Click Save.

Managing Default Permissions

Default permissions define the permissions applied to new sub-folders, content, and files in a space/folder. These defaults apply only to items created after the configuration.

  1. Open the space or navigate to the folder.

  2. Click Actions (Actions Menu) next to the item (1) and select Default Permissions.

    Alternatively, navigate to All Spaces and click Actions (Actions icon) → Default Permissions for the space.

    Tip

    Restore the original Liferay defaults by selecting the Reset to Default Permissions action.

  3. The Edit Default Permissions modal includes

    • Default Folder Permissions: appears for every space and folder. These permissions apply to all sub-folders created inside it.

    • Default Content Permissions: appears for every space and for folders that store content. These permissions apply to all new content created in that space or folder, including its sub-folders.

    • Default File Permissions: appears for every space and for folders that store files. These permissions apply to all new files uploaded to that space or folder, including its sub-folders.

  4. For each role, check the boxes to assign permissions.

  5. Click Save.

Note

Default permissions apply only to newly created items. Existing entries remain unchanged unless you use the Edit and Propagate Default Permissions action to update them.

Propagating Default Permissions

Use the Edit and Propagate Default Permissions action to update permissions for both new and existing items in a space or folder.

To apply and propagate default permissions to existing items,

  1. While managing default permissions, select the Edit and Propagate Default Permissions action.

    Define how folder permissions inheritance should behave in the CMS.

  2. Select a tab: Default Folder Permissions, Default Content Permissions, or Default File Permissions (1).

  3. Configure the permissions for each role (2).

  4. Check I understand that these changes will also affect existing entries (3) and click Save (4).

Assign permissions that should be inherited from folders.