Permission reports allow Workspace owners and Content managers to see what level of access individual users and users in any selected groups have to the selected files and folders in your workspace. You can customize which users and groups and which files and folders are included in the report.
Create a permission report
Note: Permission reports record the state of permissions at the moment you create the report, so we recommend creating a report when other users aren't actively modifying permissions.
To create a permission report:
- In the top right, click your workspace name and select Settings to open the Workspace Settings.
- Go to the Permissions tab.
- Make sure that the Create a Report page is selected.
- Name your permission report.
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In the Users or groups section, choose one of the following:
- All users and groups to include every user and group in the workspace
- Selected users or groups to filter the report to selected users, groups, or both
Note: If you select a specific user or group, the report includes only their permissions for the selected files or folders. To see all users or groups with access to a file, select All users and groups.
- Select to include All files and folders or Selected files and folders in your report.
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Click Create Report to finish. You'll receive an email once the report is created and a notification in Workiva.
Tip: You can check the Past Reports page to see the report's progress.
Use the permission report
After the report is generated, open it to review permissions across users, groups, files, and folders.
You can access and download the report from the Permissions page in Workspace Settings. Reports are generated as CSV files, which you can open in a spreadsheet application to review and filter the data. You’ll also receive an email notification when the report is ready.
If you use Workiva Spreadsheets, you can import the CSV file to analyze the report within Workiva.
Reports remain available on the Permissions page for up to 6 months. To learn more, read View and manage past permission reports.
Understand the report
The report is organized in a tabular format with the following columns:
- File type: The type of item (such as folder, document, or section).
- File path: The location of the item within the workspace.
- File or section name: The name of the file, folder, or section.
- User (for user permissions) or Group (for group permissions): The user or user group assigned permissions.
- Permission: The level of access (Owner, Editor, Viewer, or Denied).
Note: Permissions for groups are shown at the group level and do not include individual users. If you generate a report for both users and groups, Workiva creates two separate reports. One is for users and the other is for groups, each with the same structure.
You can use the report to:
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Review access by user or group
- Filter by a specific user or group to see all files they can access.
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Review access by file or folder
- Identify all users and groups with access to a selected file or folder.
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Analyze permission levels
- Filter by access level (Owner, Editor, Viewer, Denied) to validate permissions.
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Support audits and compliance
- Confirm that only the right users or groups have access to sensitive content.
View and manage past permission reports
If you’d like to download previously created permission reports, you can see all the permissions reports that you created within the past 6 months under Past Reports.
If you want to download multiple past permission reports, select your desired reports and click Download selected. In this page, you can also delete past reports that you’ve created by selecting them and click Delete Selected.