SharePoint Online Document Library Permissions [Detailed Tutorial]

This SharePoint Online tutorial explains what is SharePoint Online Document Library Permissions, how to give permissions to a document library in SharePoint Online.

Also, we will cover some more below topics such as:

• SharePoint Document Library View Permissions
• SharePoint Document Library Stop Inheriting Permissions
• Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library
• Change Permissions Levels in SharePoint Online Document Library
• Delete unique permissions in SharePoint online document library
• Restore deleted permissions in SharePoint Online Document Library

Also, Read: SharePoint Online Site Date Format [With Examples]

SharePoint Online Document Library Permissions

Here, we will see what is SharePoint Online Document Library Permissions.

• By default, SharePoint Online can inherit permissions from the site collection level and a subsite inherits permissions from its parent site.
• Permission levels of a SharePoint Online document library are listed below:
  • Full control: Users can manage a SharePoint Online list with full control.
  • Design: Users can view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize the SharePoint Online list.
  • Edit: The user can add, edit and delete lists; can view, add, update, and delete list items and documents.
  • Contribute: Users can view, add, update, and delete list items and documents.
  • Read: Users can view pages and list items and download documents.
  • RestrictedView: Users can view pages, list items, and documents. Documents can be viewed in the browser but not downloaded.
• All SharePoint sites, lists and libraries, folders, and documents can inherit the permissions from the SharePoint site that contains them.
• A SharePoint Online administrator or a SharePoint owner can change the permissions of a SharePoint document library.

SharePoint Document Library View Permissions

Now, we will discuss SharePoint Document Library View Permissions.

• Open a SharePoint Online document library (Patient Test Reports) -> click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings.

• In the Library settings page, select Permissions for this document library under the Permissions and Management section.

• The permission page of the SharePoint document library looks like below:

This is how to view the permission page in a SharePoint Online document library.

Check out: SharePoint Online List Title Column [Detailed Guide]

SharePoint Document Library Stop Inheriting Permissions

Similarly, we will discuss SharePoint Document Library Stop Inheriting Permissions.

• By default, SharePoint lists, libraries, files, and folders will inherit permissions from the SharePoint site level, so we need to stop inheritance to give unique permissions to the SharePoint lists.
• Open the SharePoint Permissions page (Click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings -> Click Permissions for this Document Library).
• In the permissions page, Click Stop Inheriting Permissions to break permissions inheritance from the parent (Ex: Mercy Hospitals).

NOTE:

We cant break the permission inheritance neither can re-inherit the permissions, if the library or folder contains more than 100,000 items itself.

This is SharePoint Document Library Stop Inheriting Permissions.

Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library

Next, we will see Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library.

• We just need to break the inheritance from the parent site before granting unique permissions to the library.
• Permissions Page – (Click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings -> Click Permissions for this Document Library).
• In the Permissions Page of a SharePoint document library -> Click Grant Permissions.

• A dialogue box appears to invite people.
• In the Invite People section -> Provide Name in (Enter names or email addresses…) box.
• Edit permission is granted to the permission level by default.
• select the permission level (Ex: Here, we are giving Read ) from the Show options.
• Uncheck the box (send an email invitation), if the person who is invited in the invited people do not want to receive an email message.
• Click on Share.

NOTE:

If a List or Library Is Inheriting Permissions From the Parent Site, It Won’t Display Grant Permissions.

• Here, we can see the permission levels below:
  • Full control: Users can manage a SharePoint Online list with full control.
  • Design: Users can view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize the SharePoint Online list.
  • Edit: The user can add, edit and delete lists; can view, add, update, and delete list items and documents.
  • Contribute: Users can view, add, update, and delete list items and documents.
  • Read: Users can view pages and list items and download documents.
  • Restricted View: Users can view pages, list items, and documents. Documents can be viewed in the browser but not downloaded.

This is Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library.

Have a look: How to Delete a Column in SharePoint Online List

Change Permissions Levels in SharePoint Online Document Library

Likewise, here we will see how to change permissions levels in a SharePoint document library.

Note:

To Change Permissions Levels of SharePoint Document Library, We Need to Break Inheritance From It’s Parent Site.

• Permissions Page – (Click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings -> Click Permissions for this Document Library).
• On the SharePoint Online library permissions page,
  • select the checkbox to change permission levels of the name of the user or group (Ex: Mercy Hospitals Visitors with Read permission level)
• Next, Click on Edit Users Permissions.

• On the Edit Permissions page (Mercy Hospital Visitors) -> Select Permissions level (Contribute) -> Click Ok.

• The updated permission level of the SharePoint Online document library is shown below figure:

This is how to change permission levels in the SharePoint online document library.

Delete Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library

In this section, we will discuss how to delete unique permissions in SharePoint online document library.

• Go to Permissions Page – (Click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings -> Click Permissions for this Document Library).
• On the SharePoint Online library permissions page,
  • select the checkbox of a group or user to remove the user permissions under the Name section (Ex: Mercy Hospitals Visitors)
• Click Remove User permissions.

• It will give a pop-up message that you are about to remove all permissions for the following user or group -> click on Ok.

This is how to Delete unique permissions in SharePoint online document library.

Read: SharePoint Online List Vs Excel

Restore Deleted Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library

Now, we will see how to Restore Deleted Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library.

• We can restore inheritance at any time, which removes any custom permissions.
• Permissions Page – (Click on the Gear icon or Settings -> Select Library settings -> Click Permissions for this Document Library).
• On the permissions page of a document library,
  • Select the checkbox of a Name of the user or group(Ex: Mercy Hospitals Visitors)
• Click Delete unique permissions.

• It will give a pop-up message that you are about to inherit permissions from the parent website. Any custom permissions will be lost -> Click OK.

• It will delete unique permissions and inherit permissions from the parent.
• After deleting unique permissions, again Stop inheriting permissions will be displayed in the permissions tab.

This is Restore Deleted Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library.

Additionally, you may like some more SharePoint Online tutorials:

• How to Copy a SharePoint List
• SharePoint Online Site Permissions [Everything need to know]
• How to Get SharePoint Online Site Owner
• How to Add Conditional Formatting to the SharePoint Online List?
• How to Customize SharePoint Online Team Site

Conclusion

From this SharePoint Online tutorial, we have learned the following topics:

• SharePoint Online Library Permissions.
• SharePoint Document Library Stop Inheriting Permissions
• Unique Permissions In SharePoint Online Document Library
• Change Permissions Levels in SharePoint Online Document Library
• Delete unique permissions in SharePoint online document library
• Restore deleted permissions in SharePoint Online Document Library