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Version: 4.x

restricting-access-to-an-article

**Tutorial** How to Restrict Access to an Article Joomla!  4.0

Introduction​

A key part of a Content Management System (CMS), is its ability to do just that - manage content. Joomla! provides an easy way for you to deliver your content to who you want to, when you want to.

This Tutorial looks specifically at restricting access to articles, either completely or for specific types of users.

Utilising it's powerful Access Control List (ACL), Joomla! provides you with an easy way to control who can see your articles by restricting access from within each article by changing the Access Level.

Note: By default an article will be set as Public - accessible by everyone.

Considerations​

Consider why you want to restrict access to the article:

  1. Is it an incomplete article? If so you could set the article to Unpublished.
  2. Is it an article that is being drafted for review by others? You can set the article so it is restricted to users that have the necessary access level.

Note: Joomla! 4 has introduced a new feature, Workflows allowing you to define specific stages for article creation through to publication.

Changing the Access Level of the Article​

If you are changing the access level of an existing article:

  • Log in to the Administrator Home Dashboard.
  • From the Home Dashboard Site Panel click on Articles or from the Sidebar Menu navigate to Content → Articles to open the Articles List.
  • Find the article you want to restrict access to and click its title to open it.

Under most circumstances you would normally set access levels on an article when you create it. Remember that the default access level of an article is Public.

J4.x article access levels-en.png

Available Access Levels​

Public: Can be viewed by everyone - logged in users and non logged in users.

Guest: This access level restricts access to users who are NOT logged in.

Registered: This level restricts access to users who are logged in. An article set to registered will require a front end login before the article can be viewed.

Special: This level restricts access to users who are logged in and are in a specific user group other than Registered. In addition, it is possible to differentiate content that some logged in users can access but others can't. Typically this might be a website where subscriptions are required to access additional content.

Super Users: Setting this level means only a Super User can access the article.

Once you have the set the relevant access level select the Save & Close button in the toolbar.

Quick Tips​

  • Instead of on the article itself, you can set the access level on the menu item for the article.