From In-Portal User Manual

This tab allows you to control the permissions of the current category. The first list displays all groups in the system. Below the groups list there are tabs for each of installed modules, including In-portal platform. Each tabs lists corresponding module permissions. The tab consists of a table with the following fields:

• Description – permission description and name
• Inherited – the checkbox specifies that a particular permission is inherited from the parent, and therefore cannot be defined for this category
• Inherited from – shows the category name and full path that defines the permission for the current category. It may be an immediate parent, or any other grandparent category in the tree – all the way up to the ‘Home’ category.
• Access - check box shows whether a permission is set or unset in the current category. 
• Effective – green or red circle. These circles indicate the active permission state for the category – red means unset, and the green – set. This is especially useful in for the inherited permissions – you do not have to look up the parent category to find out what the value of a particular permission is.
  

The list of In-portal platform permissions is as follows:

• View Category – controls whether a user can view the subcategories in this category.
• Add Category – controls whether a user can add categories inside this category.
• Delete Category – controls whether a user can delete categories inside this category.
• Add Pending Category – controls whether a user can add categories inside this category, but in pending mode – awaiting administrator’s approval before they become active.
• Modify Category – controls whether a user can modify categories inside this category.
• Allow favorites – controls whether a user can utilize the Favorites function on the items in this category. The favorites feature works like a bookmark – it allows users to mark the items they find useful, and they will be displayed in ‘My Favorites’ section in their account on the front end.