Readers Field and Extended ACL


Domino/Notes Version: 12.5
Add-on Product (if appropriate, e.g. Verse / Traveler / Nomad / Domino REST API):
Its Version:
Operating System:
Client (Notes, Nomad Web, Nomad Mobile, Android/iOS, browser version):


Problem/Query:

How do I use the Extended ACL in HCL Notes to restrict access to a particular document? I have a document which contains a Readers field. However a user whose name is not contained in the readers field is able to see the document returned in a lookup. is it possible that this is related to the extended ACL? How else could a user see a vlaue returned in a lookup although he is not in the Readers field of that document? I have not worked with the Extended ACL before and am not clear on how it functions.

Hello Andrew,

The Extended ACL is designed to further restrict access, not grant it. It allows an administrator to refine or further restrict the access defined in the main ACL, often for specific components like XPages, web services, or agents. It can only take away access that the main ACL has already granted.

May I ask is this document part or a custom Domino application? How did that user access the document? Can you please verify that the user is not a member of Any group that has manager access.

Kindly refer to the link below for your reference on Extended ACL:

If you need further assistance I would recommend that you create a support case to HCL. Thank you

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If the readers field is populated and does not contain the user name, he can not see or retrieve the document via standard notes methods.

However, if the readers field for a particular doc is blank, it is visible to all. Also there could be multiple readers fields in document like section1readers, setion2readers and so on. The effect is cummulative.

While in full access admin mode , the readers field restrictions do not apply to full admin mode user.

It would help if you could specify how the user is accessing that document? A search? Some script etc?

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Thank you very much for your reply. The document contains 8 readers fields, three of which are empty. So do I understand correctly that because of even one empty Readers field, a document will be visible to all users (regardless of the contents of the other readers fields) ?

No. The effect is cummulative. Even if one readers field is populated, reader restrictions will apply.

He should be seeing the document only if

All readers fields are empty

Or

One of the readers field contains his user name or a group he belongs to.

You need to check both the things for the effected document . May temporarily unhide the readers fields or check their contents via temporary action button

You are talking about a “lookup” where the user can see a document. I assume you are talking about a @DBLookup or @DBColumn.

These two relay on the content of views to return their value. If the view index contains the data, then under certain circumstances data can be returned from a document in the view that the user has no access to.

I once used this “quirk” to let a user “select” a document that he is not able to see as the information within the document is protected (and in addition encrypted, but this is not relevant here):

@DBColumn and @DBLookup can return data from an “invisible” (because reader protected) document under the following conditions:

  • The view contains a categorized column
  • The view is NOT set to hide empty categories
  • DBLookup and DBColumn return the content of this categorized column

Another way to make this data “visible” is by using a “runonserver” agent that is signed by somebody else who can see the document and use an in-memory document to exchange data between frontend and the backend agent, but this is quite sophisticated and needs some knowledge of LotusScript programming.

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Thanks a lot for this very useful information.

You need to check Authors fields as well. If a user is in an Authors field they’ll be able to read it.

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Thanks I have done this. However this is not the sourse of the problem as the person concerned is not in any Authors field.

Other things to consider:

is the lookup cached? Try the NoCache option

does the lookup return more than one document, and there’s another document without reader restriction. Check your key value and open the lookup view to take a closer look

is the lookup being performed by the user or the server?

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