If you are having problems seeing a Document, or a specific version of a Document it is probably because you do not belong to the Group(s) to which the Document has been assigned and/or you don't have the right permissions.
Access restrictions due to Group(s)
As a user, regardless of the permission role that you have within the system (Administrator, Manager, Regular User, or Read Only User), you will only be able to see Documents that are assigned to the same Group(s) as you.
The only exception would be if the User Selection Criteria toggle is turned ON.
Access restrictions due to Permissions
There are different permission settings in the System that determine which users can see a Document and in which status/version they see it.
Before going into these permissions it is important to understand the different document versions and statuses:
- Complete versions are versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and so forth.
- A document reaches a complete version when it is set to Approved not Published and maintains said complete version while it is Published.
- When a new version of a Document reaches Published status the status of the prior version will be Published & Substituted. For example, when we publish version 2.0 of a Document, version 1.0 will appear in the versions tab as Published & Substituted.
- Intermediate versions are 0.1, 0.2, ..., 1.1, 1.2,... and so forth. While a Document is in Draft or Under Review it can be edited and every time the intermediate version will increase by 0.1.
- It is important to differentiate between the current ongoing intermediate version and the prior intermediate versions.
Taking these statuses and versions into account it is important to know which permission role can see Documents in each of these versions.
An Administrator can:
- See all Documents throughout their entire approval cycle from Draft to Published.
- See all intermediate versions as well as Published & Substituted versions, regardless of having a role in the Document or not.
Managers can:
- See all Documents throughout their entire approval cycle from Draft to Published. Depending on whether or not they have a role in the Document some aspects may vary:
- Managers who do not have a role in the Document will be able to view the current ongoing intermediate version. This means that if a Document is currently in version 1.3 they will be able to see this version but not version 1.2 or any other previous intermediate version.
- Managers who do have a role in the Document will be able to see all intermediate versions (0.1, 0.2, ...1.1, 1.2, etc) as well as the Published & Substituted versions of a Document.
Regular Users can:
- See all Documents throughout their entire approval cycle from Draft to Published. Depending on whether or not they have a role in the Document some aspects may vary:
- Regular users who do not have a role in the Document will only be able to see the current Approved not Published or Published version.
- This means that if a Document is currently in Draft in version 2.3, a Regular User who does not have a role in the Document will see the last Published version 2.0.
- In this case the Regular Users will not be able to see the Published & Substituted version 1.0.
- Regular Users who do have a role in the Document will be able to see all intermediate versions (0.1, 0.2, ...1.1, 1.2, etc) as well as the Published & Substituted versions of a Document.
- Regular users who do not have a role in the Document will only be able to see the current Approved not Published or Published version.
A Read-Only User can:
- View a Document only in Approved not Published and Published status.
- If a Read-Only User opens a Document that is currently in Draft status, version 1.2, he/she will only be able to see the last Published version which in this case would be version 1.0.
- A Read-Only User cannot have a role in a Document.