SharePoint Site Permissions Inheritance: A Tutorial on Managing Unique Permissions

SharePoint is a powerful tool for collaboration and document management in organizations. With SharePoint, you can create sites to share documents and collaborate on projects with your team. By default, SharePoint sites inherit permissions from their parent site. This means that the permissions assigned to the parent site are automatically applied to all sub-sites and documents within the site.

Understanding SharePoint Site Permissions Inheritance

SharePoint site permissions inheritance is a feature that allows you to manage permissions at the parent site level and have them automatically applied to all sub-sites and documents within the site. This simplifies the process of managing permissions as you only need to set them at the top level and they will be inherited by all child items.

When a sub-site or document is created, it inherits the permissions of its parent site by default. This means that any changes made to the permissions at the parent site level will also be reflected in the sub-site or document. However, there may be cases where you want to break this inheritance and assign unique permissions to a sub-site or document. This tutorial will guide you through the process of managing unique permissions in SharePoint.

Steps to Manage Unique Permissions in SharePoint

Follow these steps to manage unique permissions in SharePoint:

Step 1: Navigate to the Site Permissions Page

To manage the permissions of a SharePoint site, you need to navigate to the Site Permissions page. Here's how:

1. Open your SharePoint site in your web browser.
2. Click on the "Settings" gear icon in the top right corner of the page.
3. In the dropdown menu, click on "Site Permissions".

Step 2: Break Inheritance

Once you are on the Site Permissions page, you can break the inheritance of permissions from the parent site to the sub-site or document. Follow these steps:

1. On the Site Permissions page, click on the "Stop Inheriting Permissions" button. This will prompt you with a warning message.
2. Read the warning message carefully and click on "OK" to proceed.

Step 3: Assign Unique Permissions

After breaking the inheritance, you can now assign unique permissions to the sub-site or document. Here's how:

1. On the Site Permissions page, click on the "Grant Permissions" button.
2. In the "Share" dialog box, enter the names or email addresses of the users or groups you want to grant permissions to.
3. Choose the appropriate permission level for each user or group from the dropdown menu.
4. Click on the "Show Options" link to reveal additional options such as sending an email notification to the users.
5. Click on the "Share" button to grant the permissions.

Step 4: Manage Permissions

Once you have assigned unique permissions to the sub-site or document, you can manage them as needed. Here are some common tasks you can perform:

• Add Users or Groups: To add additional users or groups to the permissions list, click on the "Add Users" button on the Site Permissions page. Enter the names or email addresses of the users or groups, choose the appropriate permission level, and click on the "Share" button.
• Remove Users or Groups: To remove users or groups from the permissions list, select the checkbox next to their name and click on the "Remove User Permissions" button on the Site Permissions page.
• Edit Permissions: To change the permission level of a user or group, select the checkbox next to their name, click on the "Edit User Permissions" button on the Site Permissions page, choose the new permission level, and click on the "OK" button.
• Restore Inheritance: If you want to revert back to inheriting permissions from the parent site, click on the "Restore Inheritance" button on the Site Permissions page. This will remove all unique permissions assigned to the sub-site or document.

Conclusion

Managing unique permissions in SharePoint is essential for controlling access to sub-sites and documents within a site. By breaking inheritance and assigning unique permissions, you can ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive information. SharePoint provides a user-friendly interface for managing permissions, making it easy for site owners to control access and collaborate securely.