Customizing SharePoint Permissions

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About this lesson

Add and remove users from permission groups and create custom permission groups.

Quick reference

Customizing SharePoint Permissions

Add and remove users from permission groups and create a custom permission group. 

When to use

We add or remove users from permission groups whenever we want to grant or deny access to the site.

Instructions

SharePoint is a permission-based application. Every member of the site must be assigned to a permission group. There are three default permission groups: Owners, Members, and Visitors. Owners have full control over the site. When we create a site, we automatically become the site owner. Members have edit access to the site. Most people are assigned this level of access. Members can read, view, and edit the site but can't delete anything. Visitors have read-only access. They can view the site but cannot edit or delete anything.

Site Permissions

To view the site permissions:

  • From the Home page, click the Cog icon. 
  • Select Site Permissions. 
  • Click Advanced Permission Settings. 

Add a user to a group

  • Click on Members. 
  • Click New and Add users to the group. 
  • Type in the name or email address of the person to add to the group. 
  • Add a message (optional)
  • Click Share. 

Remove a user from a group

  • Select a user to delete. 
  • Click Actions and Remove user from the group. 
  • Click OK.

Create a custom group

  • Go back to Groups. 
  • Click New and Create a new group. 
  • Define the fields for the group. 
    • Name the group 'Marketing Team'.
    • Add a description. 
    • Type your name as the group owner. 
    • Who can view the memberships to this group: Members. 
    • Who can edit the membership of this group: Owner.
    • Allow requests to join or leave this group: Yes.
    • Select Design access. 
  • Click Create.
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  • 00:04 It's now time to move on and talk about permissions in SharePoint.
  • 00:08 Because the fact that SharePoint is a permission based application is one of
  • 00:13 the biggest selling points.
  • 00:14 And every person who is a member of this SharePoint site needs to be
  • 00:19 assigned to a permission group.
  • 00:21 And there are three permission groups in SharePoint, members, owners and visitors.
  • 00:27 So let's start out by taking a look at these permission groups.
  • 00:31 So from the home page, if we click on the cog icon,
  • 00:35 you'll see that one of the options we have in this menu is site permissions.
  • 00:40 And if we jump into there, you can see there are the three groups, site owners,
  • 00:45 site members and site visitors.
  • 00:47 Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to jump straight down into the advanced
  • 00:50 permissions settings.
  • 00:52 Because, I think this just enables us to see these
  • 00:54 groups in a bit of a clearer way.
  • 00:56 Once again, we have all three of our groups.
  • 00:59 And if you take a look in the permission levels column,
  • 01:02 you can see the level of access that those groups are assigned.
  • 01:05 So members have edit access, owners have full control.
  • 01:10 And remember, if you created the site then you are automatically the site owner.
  • 01:15 And finally, visitors have read access.
  • 01:19 So, that's all well and good.
  • 01:20 But what about if we want to assign someone or
  • 01:23 add someone to one of these permission groups?
  • 01:25 Well, it is very straightforward.
  • 01:28 All we need to do is click on the link to one of the groups, so
  • 01:31 I'm going to choose members.
  • 01:33 And then notice that we have a little horizontal menu running across the top.
  • 01:37 And if I select the new drop down, I can add users to this group.
  • 01:42 All I then need to do is type in the name or
  • 01:44 the email address of the person that I want to invite.
  • 01:47 So I'm going to say I want to invite Jen, I can add a quick message.
  • 01:54 I'm just going to type Hello, click on Share, and
  • 01:57 that is basically going to send an email invite out to Jen with the link.
  • 02:02 And then, she now has access to this site as a member.
  • 02:05 Now, what about if we want to do the reverse and remove somebody from a group?
  • 02:10 So, let's use the example of Jen again.
  • 02:12 All we need to do here is select the user that we want to remove.
  • 02:16 Go to the actions drop down.
  • 02:18 And you can see right at the bottom,
  • 02:20 we have an option, remove users from the group.
  • 02:23 I'm going to click on OK to confirm, the screen will refresh.
  • 02:26 And that user has now been removed.
  • 02:28 Now, what if I want to do something completely different?
  • 02:32 Maybe those three standard permission groups aren't exactly what I want.
  • 02:36 Maybe I want to create my own permission group and
  • 02:40 define the kind of access that I want to give.
  • 02:43 Well, the good news is that we can also do that in SharePoint.
  • 02:46 So I'm going to go back to groups.
  • 02:49 And then, from this new drop down, I'm going to create a new SharePoint group.
  • 02:56 So now I need to go through and define my criteria.
  • 02:58 So let's pretend that this group is going to be specific for
  • 03:03 anybody who works in marketing.
  • 03:05 So I'm going to call it marketing team.
  • 03:08 I could add a bit of a description in there if I wanted to, I'm not going to.
  • 03:12 The group owner currently is me and that is absolutely fine.
  • 03:15 I could add more people in there if I wanted somebody else to be
  • 03:19 the group owner.
  • 03:20 And then I can define my group settings.
  • 03:23 So, who can view the memberships of this group?
  • 03:26 Well, currently that is set to group members, I'm going to keep it on that.
  • 03:30 And who can edit the membership of this group, and that is set to group owner.
  • 03:34 So currently I am the only one who can edit this group.
  • 03:38 I can specify what I want to do with membership requests.
  • 03:41 So allow request to join or leave this group.
  • 03:44 So I'm going to say, yes, I'm going to allow requests.
  • 03:47 And those membership requests are going to come through to my email address.
  • 03:52 And then finally, I get to assign permissions for this particular group.
  • 03:57 And you'll see here,
  • 03:58 I have a few more permissions outside of those three standard ones.
  • 04:03 So the standard ones, remember owners have full control,
  • 04:07 members can edit, and visitors have read only access.
  • 04:10 But we have three more in here design, contribute, and restricted view.
  • 04:15 And you can see next to them exactly what that level of permission allows
  • 04:20 those users today.
  • 04:21 So I'm going to say,
  • 04:22 the marketing team need to have design access to this particular SharePoint site.
  • 04:28 And let's say create, and there we go.
  • 04:30 I now have my new permission group, it's called marketing team and
  • 04:34 currently I'm the only member.
  • 04:35 If I click back on groups, you'll see there it is, sitting just there.

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