This document provides an overview of permissions in SharePoint. It discusses SharePoint groups and how they are used to manage permissions instead of individual users. It covers inheriting and breaking permissions and how to find what permissions a user has. It also explains limited access permissions, using email distribution groups, and the difference between SharePoint and Active Directory groups.

1. SHAREPOINT
PERMISSIONS 101
Thomas Duff – 06/21/2013

2. Agenda
• Permissions In SharePoint
• SharePoint Groups
• Inheriting And Breaking Permissions
• Finding What Permissions Someone Has On A Site
• What Is “Limited Access”?
• Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• SharePoint Groups vs. Active Directory Groups

3. Permissions In SharePoint
• Covers everything from Full Control (owners) to Read
Only (visitors).
• Permissions can inherit from a parent site or list
• Permissions can also be unique (breaking inheritance)
• You can customize your permission groups down to a
specific level of granularity
• For all permission options, see:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/cc721640(v=office.14).aspx

4. Using SharePoint Groups For Permissions
• The default groups are:
• Full Control
• Contribute
• Reader
• Site Actions > Site Permissions

5. Why Groups Instead Of Individual People?
• Technically, you can add individual people to a permission
list.
• Using SharePoint groups makes it easier to administer
permission changes.

6. CreatingA New SharePoint Group
• Use the Create Group icon in the Permissions page
Ribbon bar.

7. CreatingA New SharePoint Group

8. CreatingA New SharePoint Group

9. CreatingA New SharePoint Group
• New group created with you as only member:
• How it looks in the permission list:

10. CreatingA New SharePoint Group
• Important point: Even if you have Full Access in a site,
you may not be able to update/modify a group:
• Ownership of a group and who can modify it are part of
the group settings.

11. Adding People To A SharePoint Group
• Select the group to change and click New > Add Users:

12. Adding People To A SharePoint Group
• Click the address book icon to look up names:

13. Adding People To A SharePoint Group
• Select your names, click Add, then click OK:

14. Adding People To A SharePoint Group
• You can have an email sent to the new members:

15. Adding People To A SharePoint Group
• They are now a member of the group:

16. InheritingAnd Breaking Permissions
• Go to the permissions list for your list or site:

17. InheritingAnd Breaking Permissions
• Click on Stop Inheriting Permissions:

18. InheritingAnd Breaking Permissions
• Confirm:
• Permissions are now unique:

19. InheritingAnd Breaking Permissions
• You can set permissions down to the list, folder, or item
level:
• Best practice is not to go any lower than folder level.

20. SharePoint GroupsAnd Breaking Inheritance
• The names *within* a SharePoint group are not frozen,
and changes to the SharePoint group membership *will*
affect any site or list that uses that group.
• THIS IS THE BIGGEST MISUNDERSTOOD PART OF
UNIQUE PERMISSIONS!
• Do not *delete* a group in a list, thinking you are only
removing it from the list. You are deleting it anywhere it is
used.
• Use the Remove User Permissions button to remove (not
*delete*) the group from this list.

21. Finding What Permissions Someone Has OnA Site
• From the permission list:
• Enter person’s name:

22. Finding What Permissions Someone Has OnA Site
• All the permissions for the person (highest wins):

23. What Is “Limited Access”?
• Used and added by SharePoint when unique permissions
exist on a site:
• Just leave it there. SharePoint manages it.

24. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• These are groups in Outlook that start with [DL]:

25. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• You can use them for SharePoint permissions:

26. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups

27. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• Here’s how it then appears in your permissions list:

28. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• However, they are not set to be security-enabled by
default:

29. Using Email Distribution Groups In SharePoint Groups
• If you don’t find your [DL] entry, create a help desk case to
have it added:

30. SharePoint Groups vs.Active Directory Groups
• You may see the following:

31. SharePoint Groups vs.Active Directory Groups
• Active Directory groups are managed by the Security
Access Management group.
• There are pros and cons to using Active Directory groups
vs. SharePoint groups.
• If you find an Active Directory group in your permission
list, call to find out who is in it.
• This is still a topic we are discussing as a group to
determine how we want to handle this on a consistent
basis.

32. Questions?
• This presentation and associated Word document with
this information will be posted for all to use.