Sharepoint permissions are managed through groups that are added to site contents to allow or restrict access. Permissions on a site can be simple or complex depending on requirements and can be managed by site owners within the Sharepoint environment.
To see what access is granted, and to who, you need to view your site permissions. This gives you a view of the access given at the top level of your site. By default, the site content such as Libraries, folders, lists and documents inherit permissions from top level of the site.
If inheritance is broken the permissions created are unique – this may be done to restrict access to a Library, List or Folder. If Unique permissions are applied these can be viewed at the Library or List settings.
You can also get to this screen by clicking on ‘Site settings’ -> ‘site permissions’ from the Cog or Settings menu.
For step by step instructions (including screenshots) see How do I view site permissions?
Your site may contain libraries or content that you wish to restrict access to or apply unique permissions. To do this you firstly need to create a group to manage this access. It should be named in a useful manner that indicates the purpose of the group. This naming protocol is suggested with SP indicating it as a SharePoint group and the Item Name would be the library or content that the group will be given access to.
SP_<LibraryName>_<PermissionLevel>
Another example might be a role-based group where Role may be ‘OfficeAdmin’ and the group may be used to grant access to a number of libraries or content.
SP_<Role>_<PermissionLevel>
For step-by-step instructions (including screenshots) see How do I create a group?
For step by step instructions (including screenshots) see Applying Unique Permissions.
You can view the unique permissions on a file by following these steps:
For step by step instructions (including screen shots) see How do I check if a file/folder in Sharepoint has unique permissions?
You can remove the unique permissions on a file/folder by following these steps:
For step by step instructions (including screen shots) see How do I remove unique permissions on a file/folder?
To add a user to an existing group:
For step-by-step instructions (including screenshots) see How do I add a user to a group?
You can control the ability of users to share files and folders or site content by changing the Access Request Settings.
To enable or disable sharing by team members with non-members
Link to the page How can I restrict site sharing or sharing of folders and files?
You can share a link to a file or folder several different ways. The important point is to always select 'People with existing access' as this leaves the permissions on the folder or library unchanged.
To copy a link to paste into a meeting request or include in an email message or Teams chat
To send a link directly via email
External guest access will automatically expire after 30 days.
Site owners will see a warning message warning similar to this:
To extend or remove the external access click on the Manage link.