Visibility & Permissions

Visibility levels determine which users can see specific content on your portal. Every piece of content — documents, posts, events, notices, and resources — has a visibility setting.

Visibility Levels

AtriumCMS uses a hierarchical visibility system. Higher levels include access to all lower levels.

Level	Name	Who Can See
0	Public	Anyone, including non-logged-in visitors
1	Members	Any authenticated (logged-in) user
2	Tenants	Residents of your community
3	Owners	Property owners (residents with ownership status)
4	Committees	Committee members
9	Board	Board members only
15	Admin	Client administrators only

Understanding the Hierarchy

Each role has access to content at their level and below:

• A Board member can see Board (9), Committee (4), Owner (3), Tenant (2), Member (1), and Public (0) content
• An Owner can see Owner (3), Tenant (2), Member (1), and Public (0) content
• A Tenant can see Tenant (2), Member (1), and Public (0) content

Setting Visibility

When creating or editing any content, you'll see a visibility dropdown. Select the appropriate level:

Category Inheritance

Content visibility can be inherited from its category. Here's how it works:

1. Categories have their own visibility level
2. Content added to a category inherits the category's visibility by default
3. You can override visibility on individual items
4. The effective visibility is the more restrictive of the content's setting and its category's setting

Example

If the "Financial Reports" category is set to Owners (level 3):

• A document set to Members (level 1) within this category will effectively be Owners (level 3)
• A document set to Board (level 9) within this category will effectively be Board (level 9)

Common Visibility Patterns

Content	Recommended Level	Reason
Bylaws & declarations	Members	All authenticated residents should access governing docs
Meeting minutes	Members	Transparency — all residents can review
Financial reports	Owners	May contain sensitive financial details
Board correspondence	Board	Internal board communications
Draft policies	Admin	Work in progress, not ready for residents
Community events	Public	Encourage community engagement
Maintenance notices	Members	Relevant to all residents
Assessment notices	Owners	Financial obligations for owners

Troubleshooting Visibility

"I set content to Members but nobody can see it"

Check the category visibility. If the category is set to a higher level (e.g., Board), the content inherits that restriction regardless of its own setting.

"Residents are seeing content they shouldn't"

Verify the content's visibility level and the user's role. Also check if the content is in a category with a lower visibility setting than intended.

Best Practices

• Use category-level visibility — Set visibility on categories rather than individual items when possible. It's easier to manage and less error-prone.
• Review periodically — Audit your visibility settings quarterly, especially after role changes or new content types
• Document your conventions — Decide on a visibility policy (e.g., "all meeting minutes are Members, all financials are Owners") and follow it consistently
• Test with different roles — Occasionally log in as a regular member to verify they see the right content

Next Steps

• Categories & Folders — Organize content with category-level visibility
• Roles & Permissions — Understand the role system
• User Management — Manage user roles and access