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Restricting content access to just managers

Restrict a document's (or policy's) audience to managers using a Saved Segment or custom field.

Written by Tom O'Dea

When a document (or other personalized content) needs to go to managers only (a manager handbook, a supervisor policy, or similar manager-specific content), you can restrict access using a saved segment (or, in some cases, a custom field). Segments let you define "who should get this" once, then reuse that definition across documents, signature rounds, reports, policies, and other personalized content.

There are three common ways to build a manager-only segment, depending on the data you have in Blissbook.

Note: In this example, we're focused on documents and their audience. When you create a saved segment or custom field, you can use them in other ways to personalize content access.

Approach 1: Filter by the built-in Level field

Blissbook automatically generates a Level field for every employee based on the manager hierarchy data synced in (via CSV upload or through a direct integration). Anyone with at least one direct report is tagged as Level: Manager.

To create a segment for everyone with this tag:

  1. Go to Organization > People.

  2. Click + Add a filter and choose Level.

  3. Select Manager.

  4. Click the orange View Changed button and choose Save as new segment.

  5. Give it a name (e.g., "Managers") and save.

Note: The Level field is dynamic. A manager who temporarily has no direct reports (because of transfers, turnover, or restructuring) won't be tagged as Level: Manager until someone reports to them again. That would result in that person not having access to the document during the time nobody is reporting to them. If that's a problem for your use case, use Approach 2 or 3 instead.

Approach 2: Filter by other employee data you already sync

If you're already syncing data into Blissbook that distinguishes managers from non-managers, you can use that data to create your saved segment instead of the Level field. Job Title is a common example: if your titles for managers consistently include words like "Manager", "Director", or "VP", you can build the segment from there.

To set this up (following our Job Title example):

  1. Go to Organization > People.

  2. Click + Add a filter and choose Job Title.

  3. Use the contains operator with a value like Manager. To catch other patterns, add additional filters (e.g., Job Title contains "VP").

  4. Click the orange View Changed button and choose Save as new segment.

Note: A Job Title pattern catches anyone whose title matches, even if they don't actually manage people, and it misses managers whose titles don't include the keyword (e.g., "Team Lead" or "Head of Engineering"). Other fields you might use here have similar tradeoffs. If precision matters, use Approach 3.

Approach 3: Sync an IsManager custom field from your HRIS/AD/Payroll platform

If your HRIS/AD (Workday, BambooHR, ADP, Entra, Paylocity, etc.) tracks manager status as its own field (or you've created a custom field to do so), the most reliable option is to sync that field into Blissbook as a custom field and filter on it directly. This avoids the edge cases in Approaches 1 and 2.

To set this up:

  1. If you're directly integrating Blissbook with your HRIS, contact support@blissbook.com and we'll map your HRIS-side manager flag as a custom field for you.

  2. If you're uploading a CSV (either manually or automatically via SFTP), add a column to your employee list sync file named IsManager with values like Y/N or TRUE/FALSE.
    ​
    ​Note: The header must NOT start with the word "Manager"; that prefix is reserved for hierarchy data. IsManager works because it starts with "Is".

  3. Once the field is synced, go to Organization > People, click + Add a filter, and choose your IsManager field.

  4. Filter to managers (e.g., IsManager: Y).

  5. Click the orange View Changed button and choose Save as new segment.

Note: Once this field is synced, you can use it just like any other custom fields.

Set the segment as your document's audience

Once your segment exists, point your document at it:

  1. From your home page or Document Library, click Share next to the document.

  2. Switch to the Audience Members tab.

  3. Click Add a person, group, or segment and select your manager segment.

  4. Toggle OFF Everyone at {{your organization}}.

Note: Add the segment to the audience first, then toggle off "Everyone". For the full picture of how document sharing works (including public vs. private links), see Sharing a Live Handbook.

Which approach should I use?

  • Approach 1 (Level) is the fastest if your hierarchy data is reliable and you can tolerate the occasional gap when a manager temporarily has no direct reports.

  • Approach 2 (other existing data) is the easiest when you already have data like Job Title that consistently identifies managers, though it's the least precise.

  • Approach 3 (IsManager custom field) is the most reliable when your HRIS tracks manager status independently. It's the right choice for documents where missing a manager (or including a non-manager) is a problem.

The same segment can be reused for signature rounds, personalized content, and reports, so the setup pays off across the rest of Blissbook.

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