# Folder (Scope) Access Permissions

This document provides an overview of how Unique handles access permissions and scoping, allowing you to manage user access to content effectively within the platform.

## Overview of the Existing Implementation

The Unique platform manages access permissions by organizing ingested content into **Scopes/Folders**. These Scopes are containers or "buckets of data" to which content is linked. Access to data in Scopes is controlled through **ScopeAccess**, allowing individual users or **User Groups** to access specific data.

When users interact with the chat, the system checks their **ScopeAccess** to retrieve the list of Scopes the user has permission to access. The system limits the search to these Scopes, ensuring that unauthorized content is never considered.

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## User Groups and Permissions

**User Groups**

User Groups in Unique control access to:

- **Space Access**: User Groups can be added to the “Members” section within Space configurations, giving all group members access to that Space.

- **Scope Access**: Access to specific Scopes can be granted to **User Groups**, making the contents of those Scopes available to all members of the group during a knowledge search.

For more information:

- [Space Management](https://docs.unique.ai/administrators/space-management)
- [User and Group Provisioning](https://docs.unique.ai/it-operators/identity-and-access-management-iam/user-and-group-provisioning)
- [User Management Interface](https://docs.unique.ai/administrators/platform-configuration/user-management-interface)
- [Managing groups & group members via API](https://docs.unique.ai/developers/software-development-kit-sdk/apis-graphql-internal-apis-for-admins/user-groups-apis/managing-groups-group-members-via-api)

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## Folders/Scopes

**Folder/Scope Creation**

Scopes can be created via the UI or API. Content is ingested into specific Scopes, making it accessible only to users with **ScopeAccess**. SharePoint integration can automatically create Scopes based on the folder structure in the connected SharePoint site.

**ScopeAccess (Folder Access)**

Access to Scopes (folders) can be given to individual users or User Groups in Unique via UI or API. Access to a folder in Unique is flat and does not automatically give access to subfolders. These access permissions are always respected when doing a knowledge search in any of the Spaces users chat in. The system will only search for relevant content in the scopes the user has access to.

Access permissions can only be managed for individual Scopes (folders), file level permissions are not possible with the current implementation.

While User Groups can be synced, Scope permissions must be manually configured within Unique.

For more information:

[Managing scopes & access via API](https://docs.unique.ai/developers/software-development-kit-sdk/apis-graphql-internal-apis-for-admins/user-groups-apis/managing-scopes-access-via-api)

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## Spaces and Content Filtering

**Spaces** are the environments where users interact with the chat. **AI Modules** within Spaces can filter content based on Scopes, ensuring that only relevant content is processed. These filters work alongside user permissions and can restrict access further but cannot grant additional permissions.

**Example:**

- **User 1** belongs to **Group Alpha**, which grants access to **Scope X** and **Scope Y**.
- A **Directives Chat Space** is configured to filter for **Scope X** and **Scope Z**.
- **User 1** will only be able to search in **Scope X**, as they lack access to **Scope Z**, despite the Space's configuration.

For more information:

[Document Search AI Module configuration - scopeIds filter option](https://docs.unique.ai/administrators/space-management/create-spaces/unique-custom-space/add-ai-assistant-and-modules/document-search-v2)

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## Integrations and Future Outlook

**SharePoint Integration**

The SharePoint integration syncs content from selected SharePoint sites into the Unique knowledge base. There are two options for how to sync that content (can be set individually per SharePoint site):

- Static Scope - All synced content from a SharePoint site is ingested into the specified Scope in Unique.
- Path-based Scopes - The integration will create a separate Scope in Unique for each folder in the SharePoint site. Files in the folders on SharePoint will be ingested into the corresponding Scope in Unique.

**Confluence Integration**

The Confluence integration currently ingests all synced content into a single, specified **Scope** within Unique. As a result, any user with access to that configured Scope will have access to all ingested content from Confluence.

Unique is working on enhancing the Confluence integration to support **multi-scope ingestion**. This update will work similarly to the **Path-based Scopes** feature in SharePoint integration. With this feature, the system will automatically create a separate **Scope** for every **Space** in Confluence. This will allow for more granular control of permissions, enabling you to assign access at the **Space** level.

It is important to note that the Confluence integration does not automatically mirror any access permissions from Confluence itself. You will need to manually configure the access permissions in Unique for the newly created Scopes that correspond to Confluence Spaces.

For more information: [Confluence Connector](https://docs.unique.ai/it-operators/integrations-connectors/confluence-connector)