Thread

When I click to add/edit a custom status I see: “Restrict status to members of specific groups
“.  However, there’s nothing else.  No form in put to actually restrict the status to specific groups.

I’m attaching a screen shot.

Do you have Member Groups (besides the Super Admin group) that can access the control panel?

From the user guide:

If any of your Member Groups (besides the Super Admin group) grant access to the Control Panel you will see a table that allows you to specify whether or not each group can access a particular status. If a Member Group can access the status then it will appear as an option in the Publish page for users of that Member Group.
This feature can be used to establish a workflow for multiple Member Groups. One group might submit entries that are placed in a “closed” or “draft” type status while another group can review the entry and assign it to be “open”.

Oh, see I’m trying to limit what Guests and see on the front end vs. Super Admins.  There are certain entries with the custom “Preview” status that I’d like just Super Admins to see.  Am I on the right path to do that?

upshot,

Restricting the status in the way you are trying is actually for the publish form itself so you can decide which status to show to an author that they can choose at publish time.

If you want to limit what a guest sees on the front end try some memebr conditionals

{if member_group == '1'}

{exp:channel:entries channel="news" status="preview|open|closed"}
...your content…
{/exp:channel:entries}

{/if}