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Why did my permissions change?

I configured a permission on the Security tab of an object in the ZMI. Later this permission has changed. Why?

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Plone manages certain permissions through the workflow mechanism. In this way, permissions are automatically set according to the current workflow state of a content item. For example, in the default Plone workflow anonymous users can view a content item in state ‘published’, but not in state ‘private’.

Permissions that are managed by a workflow may be changed by Plone when:

  • the object undergoes a state transition
  • an administrator performs “update security settings” in portal_workflows in the ZMI (which should be a safe operation that can be performed at all times)
  • states or security settings are manipulated programmatically, for example when you migrate to a newer Plone version
You should therefore set permissions that are managed by a workflow in the configuration of that workflow in portal_workflows, not on the Security tab directly.