How to Restrict Assets to User Groups

You can restrict an asset so that only members of specific user groups can see it, even when other groups have access to the folder it is in. This is useful for material that belongs to one team, such as drafts, confidential files or content for a single market, stored alongside assets everyone can see.

How It Works

• Once an asset has one or more asset user groups, only members of those groups can see it. Administrators can always see it.
• You can assign several asset user groups to one asset, and a user can belong to several groups.
• This is an extra restriction on top of folder permissions and visibility levels. Members of the group still need access to the asset's folder, and a high enough visibility level if levels are in use.
• Assets with no asset user group are not affected.

Before You Start

• The user groups you want to use must already exist. See How to Create User Groups.
• Know which metadata profile the assets use, because the field must be added to it.

Steps to Restrict Assets to User Groups

Part 1: Mark user groups as asset user groups

1. Go to App Setup > User Settings > User Groups.
2. Click Edit on the user group you want to use.
3. Tick Asset User group.
4. Click Save.

Groups are marked one at a time. Repeat for each group you want to be able to assign to assets. Only groups marked this way can be chosen on an asset.

Part 2: Add the Asset User Group field to a metadata profile

1. Open the metadata profile the assets use.
2. Add the system metafield Asset User Group to the profile, and save it.

The field is now available when editing assets with this profile. See configuring metadata profiles for how to add fields to a profile.

Part 3: Restrict assets

Option 1: One asset

1. Open the asset and edit its metadata.
2. In Asset User Group, choose one or more groups.
3. Click Save. The asset is now visible only to members of those groups and to administrators.

Option 2: Several assets at once

1. Select the assets using their checkboxes. The batch action menu appears at the bottom of the screen.
2. Choose the edit option.
3. In Asset User Group, choose one or more groups.
4. Click Save.

To remove the restriction, clear the Asset User Group field and click Save.

Tips

• Use asset user groups when access follows named teams. Use visibility levels when access follows a ranked hierarchy, where higher tiers see everything below them.
• If someone can't see an asset they expect to see, check its asset user groups as well as their folder access and visibility level.
• Keep the number of asset user groups small and give them clear names, so editors pick the right one.
• To limit a group by metadata values instead, see How to Restrict User Groups by Metadata.