Member Permissions

Permissions are a powerful way to control who can see and interact with different areas of your site. By using permissions effectively, you can tailor the experience for different types of users across your community.

For example, you may want to create a private staff area that only moderators can access, or a premium section that is available only to paying members. Permissions give you the flexibility to do all of this, and more.

Permissions Overview

Within the Invision Community platform, there are several ways to control what users can access, both from a staff management perspective and from a regular member’s point of view.

In this section, we’ll focus primarily on member-facing permissions, which are managed through member groups and modules, while also providing a brief overview of other permission-related controls you may encounter throughout the suite.

Group Permissions

Most member access permissions within the platform are controlled using Member Groups. If you’re not already familiar with how groups work, we recommend reviewing the Member Groups guide before continuing.

Permissions can be accessed in two main ways:

• From the list of member groups, using the lock icon, to manage all node permissions for a specific group

• From the node (forum for example), using the lock icon, to manage all member group permissions for a specific node

Which method you use will depend on what you’re trying to achieve.

If you want to configure all permissions for a specific group, navigate to:

Members → Groups

From here, select the lock icon next to the group you want to edit.
(In some areas, this option may appear in a dropdown menu on the right.)

This view allows you to define everything that members of this group can see and do across the site.

Alternatively, you can manage permissions directly from within an applications nodes, such as:

• Community → Forums

• Gallery

• Downloads

Selecting the lock icon next to a forum, category, or section will display a permissions grid showing all member groups and their access to that specific area.

This approach is especially useful when:

• Creating a new forum or category

• Quickly setting access rules for multiple groups at once
  

Module Permissions

There may be times when you want to restrict access to an entire application, or even a specific module within an application, rather than controlling access at the content level.

Examples include:

• Completely removing private messaging for a group

• Removing the contact form

• Preventing guests from using search

In these cases, module permissions are the appropriate tool.

To manage module-level permissions, go to:

System → Site Features → Applications

Expanding any application will show the list of modules it contains.

Unlike standard permissions, module permissions can completely remove functionality, making it appear as though the feature does not exist for the affected users.

Selecting the lock icon next to a module allows you to choose which member groups are allowed access.

For example, if you remove access to the Search module for guests, search functionality will be entirely unavailable to users who are not logged in.

Other Permission Controls

In various areas of the Admin CP, you’ll also find additional permission-related options, including:

• Custom permission error messages - useful if you want to guide users toward an action (such as subscribing or registering) when they try to access restricted content

• Global limits - such as upload sizes or posting restrictions

• Other area-specific controls - apply regardless of group membership

These options allow you to fine-tune how access is handled and how restrictions are communicated to your members.