Security trimming in Topics
Topics users can't view information in topics that their existing Office 365 permissions prevent them from seeing. Everything a user sees on a topic page (for example, SharePoint sites, documents, files) will be information they're already allowed to see. Topics doesn't make changes to any existing permissions.
Why two users might have different views of the same topic
When a topic is created through AI or manual curation, it can contain a description of the topic, alternative names, people associated with the topic, and sites, pages, and files related to the topic. When this information is viewed on a topic page, it's possible that two users who are viewing the same topic might not see the same information.
For example, when User 1 views the Neptune topic page, they might see this view of the topic page.
However, when User 2 looks at the same Neptune topic page, their view differs from User 1. User 2 is able to see the DG-2000 Product Overview file in the Pinned files and pages section of the topic page, which doesn't appear for User 1.
The difference in what users can see on the same topic is because users might not have the Office 365 permissions to view a related site or file. Topics respects the permissions that are set on items in a topic, and can't change access to them. In our example, User 1 isn't able to view the DG-2000 Product Overview file in their topic page for Neptune because User 1 doesn't have Office 365 permissions to view the file.
If a user isn't able to see enough information in a topic for it to be useful, the topic won't be available to the user. When this happens, the user won't see the highlighted topic. A different user who has permissions to more information in the topic for it to be useful, will be able to see the topic.
Topic permissions for knowledge managers and topic contributors
Users that are assigned permissions to manage topics - knowledge managers - will only be able to view information they have permissions to see within topics.
Similarly, users who have create and edit topic permissions - topic contributors - will only be able to view information they have permissions to see within topics.
AI versus manually curated topic information
Topics can contain information generated by AI and information added or edited by topic contributors or knowledge managers.
- Information in a topic that was added by AI is only visible to people who have access to the source content.
- Topic description and people information that has been manually added or edited by a topic contributor or knowledge manager is visible to everyone who can see the topic.
- Files, pages, and sites are only visible to users who have permissions to the source content, whether manually added or added by AI.
The following table describes what users - topic viewers, contributors, and knowledge managers - can see in a given topic based on their permissions.
| Topic item | What users can see |
|---|---|
| Topic name | Users can see the topic name of topics in the topic center. Some topics might not be visible if users don't have permissions to the source content or have a low relevancy to the user. |
| Topic description | AI-generated descriptions are visible only to users who have permissions to the source content. Manually entered or edited descriptions are visible to all users. |
| People | Pinned people are visible to all users. Suggested people are only visible to users who have permissions to the source content. |
| Files | Files are only visible to users who have permissions to the source content. |
| Pages | Pages are only visible to users who have permissions to the source content. |
| Sites | Sites are only visible to users who have permissions to the source content. |