SharePoint Folder Permission Inheritance
- Dan Jakubiak
Faculty, staff, and students can alter folder permissions in SharePoint. Typically, folders in SharePoint inherit their permissions from their parent folder, the folder they reside in. However, users may break this inheritance in order to give a subfolder unique permission.
Folders with broken inheritance, also known as “unique permissions”, are visibly identical to normally permissioned folders. Their unique permissions are only viewable from the Manage Access window accessed by right-clicking on the folder.
This may be confusing for a user who has been unknowingly added to this unique folder and they are trying to have a coworker view the folder; they might not understand why their coworker cannot see the folder.
Instead of breaking inheritance, consider moving the data to a separate SharePoint site or separate Document Library.
Breaking and Restoring Inheritance
Navigate to s.uconn.edu/sharepoint and sign in with your NetID.
Find your SharePoint site in the list and click on it to open your SharePoint site.
Click on Documents in the left-hand menu. Find the folder you want to apply the unique permissions to.
Right click on this folder and click on Manage access.
Click on the little ellipsis in the top right corner near the X. Click on Advanced settings.
Click on Stop Inheriting Permissions in the top ribbon.
Otherwise, click Delete unique permissions if you wish to begin inheriting permissions again.You will receive a warning popup. Click OK.
If Inheritance was just broken
Continue following this guide to learn what to do next. If you just removed the unique permissions in order to restore inheritance, you are done with this guide.
Be cautious when changing permissions of folders.
Select the User Groups that you would like to remove from this folder. Below you will see the site named “Dan Tester”.
In this example, only the Owners group should see the folder; the other groups will be removed.Click Remove User Permissions to revoke access of the selected User Groups.
Click OK in the popup window.
To grant access to this folder, click on Grant Permissions.
You may add individuals and you may re-add your site’s User Groups in this window.Click on SHOW OPTIONS to continue.
Decide whether these users/groups should receive an email notification. If you do not send one, be sure to otherwise communicate your changes to them.
You may set their access level at this time. Decide whether they should be able to edit or simply view the contents of this folder.
For an explanation of these levels, please visit Microsoft’s help guide here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sites/user-permissions-and-permission-levels
Click Share to complete your changes.