Problem

When a user receives an access request for content such as a page or whiteboard that has inherited restrictions, the approval process fails. This occurs because permissions must be granted at the restricted parent level, not directly on the content itself.

Environment

Confluence Cloud, with content having inherited restrictions.

Steps to Reproduce

1. User receives an access request for content with inherited restrictions.
2. Content owner attempts to approve the access request directly on the content.
3. Encounter an error message.

Expected Results

The user should be informed of where the permissions need to be granted, ideally with a feature that evaluates and displays the exact location for permission adjustment, similar to the inspect permissions feature.

Actual Results

The approval fails with an error message:

Access request error

Sorry, there was an unexpected error while granting access.

Workaround

Currently, the workaround involves manually inspecting the content hierarchy to identify where the inherited restrictions are applied and granting permission at the parent level.

However, this is not straightforward due to the current behavior and lack of clear guidance within the product.

Notes

• Users are unaware of the inherited permissions on the content.
• Content owners lack clarity on where to adjust permissions.
• The error message does not adequately explain the issue, missing guidance on approval at a different level.

Reference:

To troubleshoot inherited access problems:

1. Open the Share window on the content item you want to give someone access to.
2. Select this parent in the statement "Anyone on this parent". This will take you to the immediate parent item causing the access restriction. (There may be other parent items with view restrictions.)
3. Open the Share window on that parent item and see if the person or group has access. If not, add them.
   1. After adding them, if this parent item doesn't inherit restrictions from any of its parents, go back to the original content item and refresh to confirm the access problem has been resolved.
   2. If this parent item does inherit restrictions from one of its parents, follow the same process until you've added the person or group to all restricted parents.

If you have permission to move content in the space, you can also try moving the child content out from under the restricted parent item where it's organized in the content tree.

An easier way to troubleshoot on Premium

If you're on the premium plan, you can use the inspect permissions feature to easily see at which levels of hierarchy someone is being denied access (parent content, space, and/or app).

You can find this feature in the Share window, in the More options menu (•••).