About Visibility Levels

Visibility Levels provide an additional layer of access control beyond folder permissions. They allow you to restrict which users can see specific assets based on a hierarchical tier system, even when those assets are stored in folders the users can access.

How Visibility Levels Work

Visibility Levels use a tiered hierarchy. Each level is assigned a tier number, and users can only see assets at or below their assigned tier. For example, if a user group is assigned to Tier 3, users in that group can see assets at Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, but not assets at Tier 4 or higher.

This system works alongside folder permissions. A user must have both folder access and the appropriate visibility level to see an asset. If a user can access a folder but the asset's visibility level is higher than their assigned tier, the asset remains hidden.

Key Features

Hierarchical tiers: Create as many tiers as needed to match your organisation's access requirements.
Cascading access: Users with access to a higher tier automatically have access to all lower tiers.
Asset-level control: Assign visibility levels to individual assets for precise access management.
User group assignment: Visibility levels are assigned to user groups, making it easy to manage access for teams.
Works with permissions: Visibility Levels complement your existing folder permission structure.

Visibility Levels vs Folder Permissions

Folder permissions and Visibility Levels serve different purposes:

Folder permissions control access to entire folders and their contents. They determine whether a user can see, upload, edit, or delete assets within a folder structure.
Visibility Levels control access to individual assets regardless of folder location. They add a secondary filter that hides specific assets from users who otherwise have folder access.

Use folder permissions when you can organise content by access requirements. Use Visibility Levels when you need to store assets with different access requirements in the same folder.

Default Behaviour

When Visibility Levels are enabled, assets without a specific level assigned default to the lowest tier. This means all users with any visibility level access can see unassigned assets.

If Visibility Levels are not enabled in your platform, this functionality does not apply and all assets are visible based on folder permissions alone.

Common Use Cases

Work-in-progress assets: Assign a higher tier to draft or incomplete assets so only your design team or reviewers can see them, while finished assets remain visible to all users.
Management-only content: Create a tier for confidential assets that should only be visible to management, even when stored alongside general assets.
Agency collaboration: Allow external agencies to access a folder while hiding internal-only assets within that same folder.
Staged releases: Keep upcoming campaign assets hidden from general users until they are ready for release by assigning a restricted tier.

Planning Considerations

Before implementing Visibility Levels, consider whether your needs can be met through folder structure alone. In many cases, organising assets into separate folders with appropriate permissions is simpler to manage than maintaining visibility tiers.

Visibility Levels are most valuable when:

You need to store assets with different access requirements in the same folder
Your folder structure is based on criteria other than access (such as project or asset type)
You have complex access requirements that vary by asset rather than by location