> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zeotap.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Restrict on Channels
> Block a catalogue field from being activated on specific channels or destinations — how to configure the restriction, how it is enforced, and where to see it in the Catalogue.
**Restrict on Channels** is an advanced setting on a catalogue field that controls where that field **cannot** be activated. Use it when a field holds sensitive, regulated, or contractually limited data that must not leave through certain marketing channels or destinations.
Every catalogue field starts with no restriction: all channels and destinations have access unless you explicitly restrict them. Restrictions apply at the organisation level, so a restriction you add to a field applies to everyone who works with that field — it is not something you set per audience.
This page covers the feature in full. For the other advanced settings on a catalogue field, see [Understand the Advance Fields](/articles/unify-customer/understand-the-advance-fields); for the rest of the Catalogue listing screen, see [Components of the Catalogue Screen](/articles/unify-customer/components-of-the-catalogue-screen).
## What the feature does
You choose the channels — and optionally individual destinations within them — on which the field may **not** be used. Those channels and destinations then become unavailable for activation in any audience that uses the field.
Three rules define the behaviour:
* **What you select is what gets blocked.** There is no allow list. A field with nothing selected can be activated anywhere; each channel you tick takes that channel away for this field. As the field form puts it, the selected channels "will not be available for activation in audiences using this attribute".
* **A channel with no destinations selected means the whole channel.** Select a channel and pick no individual destinations, and the restriction covers every destination under that channel. Naming destinations narrows the restriction to just those.
* **For identifiers, a restriction protects the whole ID group.** Restricting one field in the ID category safeguards every identifier that shares its **Group Name**, so a group stays governed consistently with one change.
**Note**
Restrict on Channels is not the same as two things it is easily confused with:
* **Access Rules** control which *users* can see and work with data in a folder. Restrict on Channels controls where a *field* can be activated, for everyone in the organisation. See [Access Rules](/articles/admin-customer/access-rules) if you need user-level data permissions.
* **Hide** removes a field from the interface and from all activation modules. Restrict on Channels leaves the field available everywhere except the channels you name. See [Components of the Catalogue Screen](/articles/unify-customer/components-of-the-catalogue-screen).
**Where the setting appears.** Restrict on Channels is offered on **ID**, **User Trait**, **Event**, **Campaign**, and **Product** fields. It is not offered on ID Metadata, ID Consent, Consent, Marketing Preference, or Non-Customer Entity fields — for an identifier's metadata or consent, restrict the identifier itself and the whole [ID group](/articles/unify-customer/understand-the-advance-fields) is covered.
**Who can change it.** Only users with the **CDP Admin** [role](/articles/admin-customer/role-descriptions) can create or modify a restriction; all users can see a field's restriction status in the Catalogue. The feature is available to Zeotap Enterprise customers — if you cannot see the setting, contact your Zeotap representative.
## How to configure it
Restrict on Channels sits in **Advanced Settings** on the catalogue field form, so you can set it while adding a field or at any time afterwards by editing the field.
Under **Unify**, go to the **Catalogue** tab and locate the field you want to restrict.
Click the three dots next to the field and click **EDIT**. (To restrict a brand-new field, click **Add Catalogue Field** and complete the field definition first — Restrict on Channels is in the same **Advanced Settings** section.)
Expand **Advanced Settings** and go to **Restrict on Channels**.
Open **Select Channels** and tick every channel on which this field must not be activated. The list holds the channels available to your account, and **Select all** ticks all of them at once.
To restrict only part of a channel, click **+ Select Destinations** and choose the destinations to block in the **Destinations** block that appears. Leave the block off to keep the restriction on the entire channel.
Review your selection and click **Save**.
Restrictions stay editable for the life of the field. Edit the field and clear a channel to lift a restriction, or remove the **Destinations** block to widen a restriction from named destinations back to the whole channel.
## Effect on Activation and Destination flows
A restriction is enforced where activation is configured, and it affects only new activations and audiences that someone edits. The platform enforces it at three points:
| Where | What you see |
| :--------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Choosing a destination for an audience that uses the field | Restricted destinations are greyed out, with an explanation on hover. |
| Mapping fields to a destination | A restricted field cannot be selected in that destination's field mapping. |
| Editing an audience that already exists | Before you can save, you are prompted to resolve the conflict — remove the restricted destinations, or remove the restricted field from the audience definition or from the mappings. |
Audiences that are **already running are not impacted**: they continue with their saved configuration even if one of their fields is restricted afterwards.
Adding a restriction does not stop an activation that is already live. To stop a running audience from sending a restricted field, edit that audience (or its destination mapping) and remove the restricted destination or the restricted field — the prompt at save tells you exactly which conflict to clear. Until someone edits it, the audience keeps running as saved.
## Restricted Channels column in the Catalogue listing
The Catalogue listing can show a **Restricted Channels** column, so you can see at a glance which fields carry a restriction. The column is hidden by default.
To show it, open the column chooser at the right of the table header and tick **Restricted Channels** under **Columns to show**.
With the column on, each field shows its restriction status — with channel icons and a hover explanation of which channels are blocked — and a field with no restriction shows a dash.
Restrictions are filterable in the listing and are included when you use **Download Catalogue** to export your catalogue, so you can audit them outside the platform. For everything else on this screen — filters, lookup, sort, Hide — see [Components of the Catalogue Screen](/articles/unify-customer/components-of-the-catalogue-screen).
## Example use cases
**Regulated data that may only be used in your own channels.** A health or finance attribute supports your own CRM and messaging campaigns but must never reach an external advertising platform. Select those platforms in **Select Channels**: teams can still segment on the field, and the blocked channels simply never appear as an activation option for those audiences.
**Data you licensed with contractual limits.** A field sourced from a partner is usable everywhere except two named platforms. Select those two channels — and if only some destinations on a platform are out of bounds, add the **Destinations** block and name just those.
**An identifier group that must stay inside a boundary.** A loyalty-programme identifier and the other identifiers in its group are governed by one agreement. Restrict one of them and the whole ID group is safeguarded with it, so a new identifier added to the group later does not become a gap in your governance.
**A field you are retiring.** Before pulling a field out of your activation flows, restrict it on the channels it currently feeds. New audiences and mappings stop picking it up, and the Restricted Channels column gives you a checklist while you clean up the audiences that still reference it.
## Related Topics