Microsoft 365
SharePoint – Sharing and Permissions
Being sure the right people have the right access to documents is essential in your SharePoint site design. This article contains links to resources to help you get started with and improve your understanding of and configuration of SharePoint Permissions.
Traditionally, SharePoint permissions have been managed through a set of permissions groups within a site (Owners, Members, Visitors, etc.). In SharePoint in Microsoft 365, this remains true for some types of sites, but additional options are available and SharePoint is part of a much broader set of capabilities for secure collaboration with Microsoft 365.
The easiest way to work with permissions is to use the default groups and permissions levels provided, which cover most common scenarios. But, if you need to, you can set more fine-grained permissions beyond the default levels. This article describes the different permissions and permission levels, how SharePoint groups and permissions work together, and how permissions cascade through a site collection. For information about managing permissions in the SharePoint modern experience, see Sharing and permissions in the SharePoint modern experience.
Permissions allow SharePoint users to perform certain actions, such as edit items in a list or create a site. But you can't assign individual permissions to individual users in SharePoint. Instead, you group related permissions together into a permission level. Then you assign that permission level to a SharePoint group that includes the people you are assigning permissions for.
SharePoint comes with some default permission levels that you can use, such as Contribute and View Only. But if one of those doesn't meet your needs, you can create a new permissions level. It's easier to keep track of permission levels if you don't change the defaults.
As an administrator or owner of a library, list, or survey, you can change permissions to let the right people access the data they need data while restricting others.
The files you store on a SharePoint site are usually available to everyone with permissions to the site, but you may want to share specific files or folders with people who don't otherwise have access to the site. When you share files and folders, you can decide whether to let people edit or just view them. You can see who a SharePoint file is shared with, and stop sharing SharePoint files or folders, or change permissions, at any time.
Sharing OneDrive files, SharePoint files, or Lists with external users (guests) allows you to securely collaborate with people outside your organization such as your business partners, vendors, clients, or customers — with or without a Microsoft account.
The recipients' experience depends on the settings you select when creating the sharing link, and the account they use to view the file.