Configure knowledge base access and permissions
10 min
Intermediate
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Manage public access by configuring space settings
- Assign access roles and edit rights to the knowledge base
- Restrict access to content by label and per request type
- Control article suggestions
Control access to a knowledge base
Control access to the space (and your knowledge base resources) by managing public access or configuring knowledge base access and permissions.
- Managing public access determines whether the general public can access your knowledge base articles.
- Configuring knowledge base access and permissions controls which users and teams can access specific knowledge base spaces and articles.
Manage public access to a space
Managing public access refers to making specific knowledge base articles available to anyone on the Internet. This is typically done for general information about the company or product you want to share with the public.
By default, anonymous users can’t access a new space, even if anonymous access is allowed at the site level. You need to enable anonymous access for the space then grant anonymous users access to make your articles accessible to the public in Confluence.
To enable anonymous access:
- Select the More actions (represented by ···) menu next to the service space in the sidebar, and select Space settings.
- In the sidebar, navigate to Channels & self service settings, and select Knowledge base.
- Find your knowledge base space in the Space list and select the Settings link.
- In the sidebar, under Space access, select Anonymous access.
- Toggle to enable the Allow anonymous access in this space option.
👇 Enable anonymous access in your space.
When you grant anonymous access in Confluence, you allow anyone not logged into Confluence (including people outside your organization) to access content, depending on the permissions you set. Anonymous access is controlled at three levels:
- Confluence level (under security settings)
- Space level
- Page level
At each level, the admin decides whether to grant anonymous users access to the instance or space. If access is granted, anonymous users will have access to all pages in the space unless the pages themselves restrict them.
Before you can make a space public, anonymous access must be allowed for the site. If anonymous access is turned off at the site level, you won’t be able to enable public access for an individual space.
Configure knowledge base access and permissions
Assigning Confluence roles for users, groups, and other access audiences in a knowledge base space allows you to control access more granularly than managing public access alone. This involves setting up who can view and read articles in knowledge base spaces on their site. It also involves deciding whether content shared with anonymous users will appear in Google searches, and how knowledge base permissions impact space-level knowledge base settings.
As a space admin, you can assign appropriate Confluence roles, such as Viewer, Collaborator, Manager, or Admin. These roles determine what people can do in the space and provide a consistent way to manage access.
You need Jira administrator access to manage knowledge base permissions settings in Jira Service Management. You may also need Confluence administrator or space administrator permissions to manage access in the linked Confluence site.
To configure knowledge base space permissions:
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, click the Settings icon (represented by a gear) and select Jira apps.
- Under Jira Service Management, select Knowledge base permissions.
- Choose your desired settings:
- All logged-in users: This setting is enabled by default in Jira Service Management. It allows space admins to make their knowledge base spaces accessible to the logged-in users of their service Jira space.
- Anyone: This setting is disabled by default in Jira Service Management. When enabled, Jira space admins can make their knowledge base spaces accessible to anyone on the Internet.
When you make your content available to anyone, it means anyone on the Internet. This permission can’t accommodate sharing with some anonymous people and not others. Any content shared with anonymous users will show up in Google searches.
Manage who can view and edit knowledge base articles
Once a service space is linked to a knowledge base space, choose who can view the knowledge base articles from your service space. You can allow unlicensed Confluence users (active service space users and customers) or only licensed users to view your linked space.
👇 Click the tabs below to see the difference between unlicensed and licensed users.
Allowing unlicensed users to view your linked space means they can view any Confluence knowledge base article at no extra cost. However, there are a few restrictions for unlicensed users:
- Unlicensed Confluence users can’t like, comment on, or edit Confluence content.
- Unlicensed users can’t directly see the Confluence dashboard, user profiles, the people directory, or the space.
- Unlicensed users can’t search all of Confluence.
To change who can view articles in a space:
- Select the More actions (represented by ···) menu next to the Jira service space in the sidebar, and select Space settings.
- In the sidebar, navigate to Channels & self service settings, then select Knowledge base.
- Select the Who can view dropdown next to the linked space of your choice.
- Select one of the given options.
👇 Click the box below to explore the view options.
Can’t change a permission? This is likely because a knowledge base permission at the site level in Confluence overrides the knowledge base permission at the space level.
Change who can write and edit articles
To change who can create and edit articles in a space:
- Select the More actions (represented by ···) menu next to the Jira service space in the sidebar, and select Space settings.
- In the sidebar, navigate to Channel & self service settings, then select Knowledge base.
- Select the Who can edit dropdown next to the linked space of your choice.
- Select one of the given options.
👇 Click the box below to explore the write and edit options.
Suggest articles to customers
When a customer is raising a request in the portal, you can suggest articles that may be helpful. This makes it easier for your customers to find the answers they need without searching.
To ensure that these suggestions are relevant to your customers, you can also use labels to limit which articles are shown. Once you set up article suggestions, the suggested articles will appear when your customer types in the Summary field while raising a request.
To set up article suggestions for certain requests forms:
- Select the More actions (represented by ···) menu next to the Jira service space in the sidebar, and select Space settings.
- In the sidebar, navigate to Channels & self service settings, then select Knowledge base.
- Under Article suggestions tab, turn on the toggle, Allow suggestions, next to the portal request form, for which you want to suggest articles.
You can also add labels under Only show articles labeled to make these suggestions smarter. We recommend using a label similar to the portal request form to make it easy for agents who write articles to remember which label to use.
👇 Here's how to control view and edit access.
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Create knowledge base articles
- Knowledge base articles
- Share knowledge base articles
- Tips for writing knowledge base articles