How to configure permissions and roles for external users in Confluence?

[Josef Zahlauer]

Hello,

I want to give access to 5 users from an external company to our Confluence. The only thing they should be allowed to see after they login, is the name of the category their space is located in and the space itself. How do I have to configure permissions and roles for them? Our own staff should be allowed to read and write in their space.

[Alex Yasurek]

Hi,

You just need to add those 5 users to a group and only give that group permission to that one space you want them to see. You will also need to add whatever group the staff belongs to. Since confluence is all permission based, as long as that external company group only has access to that one space they will not be able to view any other space. 

The only thing is that when it comes to categories in the space directory, I think they will be able to see all categories. They will not be able to actually see spaces that belong to those categories since they don't have permission to them but they will see the categories.

[Josef Zahlauer]

Hi Alex,

that works in a way, that  the external users have access to their own space, but unfortunately, the have access to all other sapces, too.

[Alex Yasurek]

They shouldn't have access to other spaces unless they were given permission to those spaces or if the space is open to anonymous. Also, make sure they only belong to that one group and they also don't belong to the staff users group. Since confluence works by permissions, the only way someone will be able to see a space is if they have permission to see it.

[Alex Yasurek]

Hi,

Did you add this new group in the "View Global Permissions" page in the administration area?

In the admin area it will be on the left side navigation under "USERS & SECURITY" -> Global Permissions.

Add this new group under the "Groups" section and  give them "can use" permission. 

Let me know if that fixes the issue.

[Josef Zahlauer]

Hi Alex,

just to check this, I created one testuser, and added this user to a testusergroup. I granted the group 'All View' and 'Pages Add' permission, when I added it to the space. Our staff is organized in the standard group 'confluence-users', so I added that group to the same space, too. After I logged in as the testeruser, Confluence says, I'm not allowed to access the space.