Restricting Edit access for multiple users

[Latoya Dillon]

Hello,

I am creating a confluence space that requires multiple users from different teams to edit only the parts of the page applicable to their team, however when I create multiple automation it is only holding the edit settings for the last rule created. So i'm attempting to created a nested IF rule but it only gives the edit access to the first set of users.

This is how my page is set up

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hello and welcome @Latoya Dillon 

This is a Confluence limitation, not an automation one.

In Confluence Cloud, edit restrictions are applied at the content/page level. Atlassian’s documentation describes restrictions as content-level or page-level controls, not section-level controls within one page. 

So if different users or groups should edit different parts of the content, the supported way is to split that into separate pages, apply the relevant edit restrictions on each page, and then combine them again in an overview page if needed. Atlassian also states that space permissions apply broadly to the space, with finer controls only at the page level.

[Latoya Dillon]

So, the content they need to edit is divide into separate pages so ideally person X should only be able to edit pages title starting with ABC, but person Y should only be able to edit pages title starting with ZYX that is the type of rule I want to create.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Latoya Dillon 

That's making everything clearer.

Then the way to do it is with automation + page restrictions.

Create a rule for pages where {{page.title}} matches ABC, then use Restrict page to give edit access to the correct user/group. Do the same for ZYX, etc.

Confluence supports restrictions at the page/content level, not a native title-based permission model, so this needs to be enforced through automation. Also note that Restrict page replaces existing restrictions. 

[Latoya Dillon]

Okay, so i should create the rules individually and not a nested IF rule?

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Latoya Dillon 

Yes, I would create them as separate rules, not as one nested rule.

For your use case, the logic is quite clean already:

pages with ABC in the title → apply restriction set A

pages with ZYX in the title → apply restriction set B

So there is not much benefit in combining that into one larger nested rule. Separate rules are usually easier to read, test, and maintain later.

Atlassian does support If/else blocks, and their automation documentation says they support up to two levels of nesting. At the same time, Atlassian also notes that If/else blocks are not compatible with branch components, because an if/else block only follows one path, while branching can run multiple paths at once. 

That does not mean nested logic is impossible. It just means there are structure limits, and for a title-based permission setup like yours, a simpler rule design is usually the better one. 

[Latoya Dillon]

okay perfect thank you so much

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Latoya Dillon 

You're welcome and I wishing you good Luck and much Fun.

Automations besides of Work are always real fun especially when they working as intended 🤗