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Page-level Permissions - classic Google Sites

Classic Google Sites offers Page-Level Permissions, which means you can invite users to your classic Site and give them different permissions for different parts and pages on the site. This means some users could only view certain pages and edit others.

New Google Sites doe not offer page-level permissions at the moment but Google has said new Google Sites will have something similar to page-level permissions - see: Migrate classic to new Google Sites

Introduction

To give a user a specific permission on a page you first need to invite that user to the site, once you invite the user to the site you can then grant specific permissions on individual pages for that user. Pages can also provide different visibility levels but you can only make a page less visible than its parent or the site. The site navigation also respects the page-level permissions so if set a page's visibility to Private, on a public site, the page will not appear in the navigation to the public but only to those who can see the page.

Instructions

Access Sharing and Permissions

Sign in to your site
Use the blue Share button (alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut: hold down the Shift key and press the S key)
The Sharing and Permissions screen will appear

Enable Page-Level Permissions

Use the Enable page-level permissions link.
Use the Turn on Page-Level Permissions button.
The permissions box moves to the right and a sitemap appears on the left.

Adding users to the Site Level (Top Level)

Access Sharing and Permissions
In the Add People box enter the e-mail addresses of those you want to invite to the site (or use the Choose from contacts link to choose people from your contacts)
Choose from the drop-down box one of the following access levels:
- Is Owner - this gives full site-wide access to the site to the invited user can: delete the site; change the site theme; change the site layout; map a web address to the site; enable Google Analytics; enable Google Webmaster Tools; all other site-wide options; create, edit and delete all pages and perform all other page-level functions. You cannot remove owners from a page's permissions
- Can Edit (formerly Collaborator) - this gives full page-level access to the site to the invited user can: create, edit and delete all pages; change page templates; move pages and view all pages. You can remove this permission from a pages' permissions or change an editor to a viewer on a page.
- Can View (formerly Viewer) - this allows the invited user to view all pages. You can remove this permission from a pages' permissions or change a viewer to an editor on a page.
Choose if you wish to Notify people by e-mail and if so enter a message to the users (optional).
Choose whether to Send a copy to myself of the invitation.
Use the Share button to invite the people.

Choose Page Permissions Inheritance Option

Either navigate to the page you want to give different permissions to and access Sharing and Permissions (or access Sharing and Permissions and find the page you want to give different permissions to in the sitemap provided).
On the right-hand side use the Change button then choose one of these options for the inheritance you want for the page:
- Use the same permissions and members as Parent Page.
- This option means that the page will inherit exactly the same permissions as its parent, so the page does not use different permissions: so viewers to the parent page can also view this page and editors can also edit.
- Use custom permissions
  - Custom permissions: Add new users to this page
  - This options means that you can add different permissions to this page but changes to permissions of the parent page will also happen to this page. This may mean that changes in permissions to the parent page can override specific permissions granted on this page.
  - Custom permissions: Do not add new users to this page
  - This option means this pages starts with a copy of the parent page's permissions and you can change the permissions as you wish. Any changes made to the parent page do not happen on this page.
- Use the Save button to activate the inheritance option.

Apply Specific Visibility to Page

Note: Google Sites Page-Level Permissions only allows you to make a page less visible than its parent or the site, so you cannot make a page public on a private site, but you can make a page private on a public site. This means if you want a private site with some public pages then you achieve this by making a public site with private pages/areas.

Either navigate to the page you want to give different permissions to and access Sharing and Permissions or access Sharing and Permissions and find the page you want to give different permissions to in the sitemap provided.
Follow the steps above to change the page inheritance option (if you just want to make the page's visibility different choose Custom permissions: Add new users to this page)
On the right-hand side use the Change link next to the visibility level chosen.
Choose a visibility options less than the current level. For a full list of visibility levels, with explanations of what each level provides, see Google Sites - Site Sharing and Visibility Options
Use the Save button to apply the new visibility level.

Apply Specific Permissions to Page

Either navigate to the page you want to give different permissions to and access Sharing and Permissions or access Sharing and Permissions and find the page you want to give different permissions to in the sitemap provided.
Follow the steps above to change the page inheritance option, you must choose one of the Use custom permissions options else this page will inherit exactly the same permissions as the parent page.
On the right-hand side choose the user you want to change the permission level of.
Choose from the drop-down box the different permission you wish to grant to the user, either
- Can Edit - this allows the user to edit the entire page, change the page settings, upload attachments, and add comments.
- Can View - this allows the user to only view the page.
- Note: Google Sites Page-Level Permissions does not provide a page owner level: ownership only applies to the site level.
Use the Save Changes button to apply the new permissions.

Remove a User's Access to a Page

Either navigate to the page you want to give different permissions to and access Sharing and Permissions or access Sharing and Permissions and find the page you want to give different permissions to in the sitemap provided.
Follow the steps above to change the page inheritance option, you must choose one of the Use custom permissions options else this page will inherit exactly the same permissions as the parent page.
On the right-hand side use the X next to the user: this will grey out/ghost the user.
Use the Save Changes button to remove the user's access.
The user now shows no access level and only ------- with a drop-down menu to grant an access level.

Screenshots

Enable Page-Level Permissions

Page-Level Permissions - Site Level

Page Permissions Inheritance Options

Page-Level Visibility - Public Site

Page-Level Visibility - Google Apps Domain Site

Page-Level Permissions

Remove User's Access from a Page

User's Page Access Removed

Google Sites - Page-Level Permissions - Video Overview

For best results watch this video in high definition and in full-screen: to do this make sure you choose 720p as the quality from the end of the time-line and use the Full-screen button to the right of that.

Googl Sites - Page-Level Permissions - Overview.mov

Usage Scenarios

Public Site - Allow Users to Edit Specific Pages

If you have a public site and want to give a particular user permission to edit a page that user must be invited to the site as a viewer first. Once a site user you can grant that user permission to edit any page you wish on the site.

Public Site - Stop Search Engines Indexing a Page

You can change the visibility of a page to Anyone with the link to stop search engines indexing that page. Some people want this to stop search engines indexing CVs and Resumes.

Private Site - Allow Users to See Only Some Pages

Since you need to invite a user to a site to give the user specific page permissions you can make a home page suitable for all the site viewers and then remove the users' permissions form the pages you do not want them to see.