Dashboard and folder permissions enable you to grant a viewer the ability to edit and save dashboard changes, or limit an editor's permission to modify a dashboard.
When you grant user permissions for folders, that setting applies to all dashboards and subfolders contained in the folder. Consider using this approach to assigning dashboard and folder permissions when you have users, service accounts or teams who require access to groups of related dashboards or folders.
- Identify the dashboard folder permissions you want to modify and the users, service accounts or teams to which you want to grant access. For more information about dashboard permissions, refer to [Dashboard permissions](../../roles-and-permissions/#dashboard-permissions).
When you grant folder permissions, that setting applies to all dashboards and subfolders in the folder. For a more granular approach to assigning permissions, you can also assign user permissions to individual dashboards.
For example, if a user with the viewer organization role requires editor (or admin) access to a dashboard, you can assign those elevated permissions on an individual basis.
Grant dashboard permissions when you want to restrict or enhance dashboard access for users who do not have permissions defined in the associated folder.
Edit dashboard permissions when you are want to enhance or restrict a user's access to a dashboard. For more information about dashboard permissions, refer to [Dashboard permissions](../../roles-and-permissions/#dashboard-permissions).
1. In the dropdown, update the permissions, and click **Save**.
## Restrict access to dashboards
Grafana applies the highest permission a given user has to access a resource like a dashboard, so if you want to prevent a user from accessing a folder or dashboard you need to consider the user's organization role, folder permissions, and dashboard permissions.
- You cannot override organization administrator permissions. Organization administrators have access to all organization resources.
- User permissions set for a folder propagate to all dashboards and subfolders contained in a folder. Permissions also cascade down to all dashboards and folders under the subfolders, and so on.
- A lower permission level does not affect access if a more general rule exists with a higher permission.
Refer to the following examples to understand how organization and dashboard permissions impact a user's access to dashboards.
### Example 1
In this example, user1 has the editor organization role.
Dashboard permissions settings:
- Everyone with Editor role can edit
- user1 is set to `view`
Result: User1 has edit permissions because the user's organization role is Editor.
### Example 2
In this example, user1 has the viewer organization role and is a member of team1.
Dashboard permissions settings:
- Everyone with Viewer role can view
- user1 is set to `edit`
- team1 is set to `admin`
Result: User1 has administrator permissions for the dashboard because user1 is a member of team1.
### Example 3
In this example, user1 has the viewer organization role.
Dashboard permissions settings:
- user1 is set to `admin`, which is inherited from the permissions set in parent folder
- user1 is set to `edit`
Result: You receive an error message that cannot override a higher permission with a lower permission in the same dashboard. User1 has administrator permissions.
> Refer to [Role-based access Control](../../roles-and-permissions/access-control/) in Grafana Enterprise to understand how to use RBAC permissions to restrict access to dashboards, folders, administrative functions, and other resources.
