How QCDS User Group Limit Inheritance and Multiple Groups Work

When Max/All Access monthly User Group Limits are enabled, QCDS evaluates all Joomla groups authorized for the sender, including inherited parent groups. It then uses the most permissive applicable allowance.

Unlimited overrides numeric values, the highest numeric value wins across multiple groups, and Joomla Super Users are always unlimited.

QCDS Uses Authorized Joomla Groups

QCDS does not look only at the user's directly assigned group row. It asks Joomla for the user's authorized groups; if that lookup is unavailable, the QCDS fallback expands direct membership through Joomla's nested user-group hierarchy to include ancestor groups.

This means a limit saved on an inherited parent group can apply even when the user was assigned directly to a child group.

How Multiple Groups Resolve

For a normal Joomla user, QCDS loads the saved monthly limit for every applicable authorized group:

  • If any applicable group is Unlimited, the local group limit is unlimited.
  • Otherwise, the highest numeric allowance wins.
  • If no applicable group has a saved allowance, the resolved allowance is 0.
  • A saved zero contributes no positive allowance; another applicable group with a higher value can still win.

Example

Suppose a sender belongs to three applicable groups with monthly allowances of 5, 20, and 50. QCDS resolves that sender to 50. If the second group is later changed to Unlimited, the sender becomes locally unlimited regardless of the other numeric values.

If all applicable groups are zero or there is no saved allowance for any applicable group, the sender cannot create another Request while local group limits are enabled.

Super Users Are Different

A Joomla account authorized for core.admin bypasses the optional local group allowance and is treated as unlimited. Test ordinary customer/sender accounts when validating a production limit policy; testing only with a Super User can make a restrictive configuration appear to work differently than it will for normal users.

Inheritance Is Not Plan-Level Quota Sharing

User Group Limits are a local Max/All Access policy. They do not divide or redistribute QuantaCade's Basic/Pro domain-level allowance, and they do not create a shared pool between members of a Joomla group. QCDS resolves an allowance for each sender and counts that sender's own sent Requests for the month.

Verify a Complex Group Setup

  1. Review the Joomla user's direct and inherited group memberships.
  2. Open QC Digital Signature > User Group Limits and record every applicable saved allowance.
  3. Apply Unlimited/highest-value precedence to predict the resolved result.
  4. Test with the actual non-Super-User account.
  5. If the result is unexpected, correct Joomla membership or the QCDS group allowance rather than adding duplicate groups to work around it.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDS feature? Visit the QC Digital Signature Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.