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• DSpace provides an "Advanced Policy Manager" (also known as the "item wildcard policy admin tool"), which allows an Administrative user to perform bulk permissions changes to all of the Items or Files (bitstreams) within a specified Collection.
• WARNING: This Advanced Policy Manager is a bit of a "beta-level" tool. It works, but it's not the most user friendly page in DSpace. It's also not the smartest tool, so you need to sometimes take several steps to make the changes you want to make.
• How-To: Batch Permissions Changes basics
  • Sample Use Case: The easiest way to explain how this tool works is via a common use-case. Suppose that you have a Collection of open access (viewable/readable to anyone in the world) Items which you now want to restrict to only be viewable to a group of users called "On Campus Users". Here's the steps you would take to perform that change:

    • Login to your site as an Administrator

    • Under the "Administrative" side menu, click on "Authorizations" (under Access Control submenu)

    • Just under the box at the top of the page, click the link that says "Click here to go to the item wildcard policy admin tool"

    • First, to meet the sample use-case, you'd want to REMOVE any existing READ-Step 1: Remove metadata access rights from all the Items within that collection.  SoItems in the specified Collection.   To do so, fill out the form as follows:

      • Description: (optional, usually is left blank as it's only really useful for bulk changes to embargo)

      • Group: (leave blank in this case as you will remove any existing permissions)

      • Action: READ (you want to remove "READ" access)

      • Content Type: Item (you want to remove READ access on Itemsan Item level – this controls metadata access)

      • Collection: [select the collection]

      • Start Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • End Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • CLICK the "Clear Policies" button

      • (NOTE: Even though you get no confirmation screen, the changes will be immediately applied)
    • At this point, all Items in that Collection will only be READable by Administrators.  However, the Files In Step #1, essentially all we've done is remove access to the Item metadata. The metadata is now only visible (readable) by Administrators.  However, the content files within those Items are unfortunately still accessible (if someone had bookmarked the URL)

    • Second, to meet the sample use-case, you'd want to REMOVE any existing READ-Step 2: Remove content file access rights from all the Files within Items in that collection.  Sothe specified Collection.  To do so, fill out the form as follows:

      • Description: (optional, usually is left blank as it's only really useful for bulk changes to embargo)

      • Group: (leave blank in this case as you will remove any existing permissions)

      • Action: READ (you want to remove "READ" access)

      • Content Type: bitstream (you want to remove READ access on the files, or bitstreams)

      • Collection: [select the collection]

      • Start Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • End Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • CLICK the "Clear Policies" button

      • (NOTE: Even though you get no confirmation screen, the changes will be immediately applied)
    • At this point, all Items & Files in that Collection will only be READable by Administrators. So, now we just need to assign NEW permissions which will make them accessible to In Step #2, we've also removed access to the Item files. This means that only Administrators can now access/download any files associated with the Items. Now, we  need to assign NEW permissions for our "On Campus Users" group .in the following two steps.

    • Step 3: Give Third, to meet the sample use-case, you'd want to ADD the READ-access right for the "On Campus Users" group access to all metadata for all the Items within that collection.  SoItems in the specified Collection. To do so, fill out the form as follows:

      • Description: (optional, usually is left blank as it's only really useful for bulk changes to embargo)

      • Group: Select the "On Campus Users" group

      • Action: READ (you want to add "READ" access to the selected group)

      • Content Type: item (you want to add READ access on Items)

      • Collection: [select the collection]

      • Start Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • End Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • CLICK the "Add Policies" button

      • (NOTE: Even though you get no confirmation screen, the changes will be immediately applied)
    • At this point, all Items in that Collection are now READable to In Step #3, we've now given the "On Campus Users" group . Unfortunately though, the Files within those Items are still restricted to Administrators. So, now we just need to assign NEW permissions which will make the Files accessible to our "On Campus Users" group.the ability to read the metadata for all Items in this collection. So, the final step is to also give them the ability to read/download files associated with these Items.

    • Step 4: Finally, give FINALLY, to meet the sample use-case, you'd want to ADD the READ-access right for the "On Campus Users" group access to all the Files within files for all Items in that collection.  Sothe specified Collection. To do so, fill out the form as follows:

      • Description: (optional, usually is left blank as it's only really useful for bulk changes to embargo)

      • Group: Select the "On Campus Users" group

      • Action: READ (you want to add "READ" access to the selected group)

      • Content Type: bitstream (you want to add READ access on all files, or bitstreams)

      • Collection: [select the collection]

      • Start Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • End Date: (leave blank - this is only useful for bulk-changes to embargo dates)

      • CLICK the "Add Policies" button

      • (NOTE: Even though you get no confirmation screen, the changes will be immediately applied)
    • At the end of this process, all the Items (and their Files) in the selected Collection will now only be accessible (READable) to users who belong to your "On Campus Users" group.  Other non-Administrative users will be presented with an Access Restricted message.