Skip to main content
The locales feature is only available to certain plans with ButterCMS. If you don’t have the feature and need access to it, please upgrade your plan or contact support. Additionally, before assigning locale permissions, make sure you’ve configured your locales. See Setting up Locales.

​
What are locale permissions?

Locale permissions allow you to control which locales each user can access and edit. This is essential for organizations with:
  • Global content teams spread across different regions
  • Translation workflows where translators work on specific languages
  • Regional marketing teams managing localized campaigns
  • Compliance requirements for data residency or content governance
Locale permissions when adding a user

​
Permission scope

When locale permissions are applied to a user:
  1. Dashboard View - User only sees content in their permitted locales
  2. Content Editing - User can only edit/create content in permitted locales
  3. Locale Dropdown - Only permitted locales appear in the locale selector
  4. API Behavior - API access is not affected (controlled separately via tokens)

​
Setting up locale permissions

For instructions on assigning locale access when adding or editing a user, see the Adding team members and Editing team members sections in Team Management.

​
Combining with custom roles

Locale permissions can be combined with custom roles and permissions for maximum control:

​
Example: regional marketing editor

User: Kenji (Japan Marketing)

Content Permissions (Custom Role):
├── All actions → Page Types → Landing Page
├── All actions → Page Types → Campaign Page
├── View → Blog posts
└── All actions → Collections → Testimonials

Locale Permissions:
└── ja-JP (Japanese)

Result:
├── Full control over Landing Pages and Campaigns
├── Can read but not edit blogs
├── Full control over Testimonials
└── ALL limited to Japanese locale only

​
Troubleshooting

Cause: User doesn’t have the right locale permissionsSolution:
  1. Go to Users → Select the user
  2. Check their Locale Permissions section
  3. Add the missing locale(s)
  4. Click Update User
Cause: Content may not exist in the user’s permitted localesSolution:
  1. Verify content exists in the user’s locales
  2. Check if the content needs to be translated first
  3. Ensure the default locale is set correctly
Cause: Feature may not be enabled or the plan doesn’t include itSolution:
  1. Verify locale permissions are enabled for your account
  2. Contact ButterCMS support to enable the feature
  3. Ensure localization is set up on your account

​
Locale permissions vs. other restrictions

Permission typeWhat it controlsAvailable on
Default rolesActions (view, edit, publish)All plans
Custom rolesContent type accessEnabled accounts
Locale permissionsGeographic/language accessEnabled accounts
Multisite accessSite/environment accessEnterprise