Configure Default Permissions Inheritance in Document Library

Question

I have a Sharepoint 2013 document library. I know how to explicitly break inheritance for each file/folder, but I'm wondering if there's some way I can make it so new folders/files never inherit permissions from their parent to begin with. Or better yet, new folders/files inherit permissions based on whichever group/s its creator belongs to.

Some background on my scenario - I have a document library which is used by both employees and contractors of the company. The contractors should only be able to see folders which we specifically designate. However, we found that if we don't grant them permission to the root folder of the document library, they are unable to see any subfolders which they are granted access to. (Ideally, permission for the subfolders would bubble up to the root folder without giving the contractors access to all other sibling subfolders.)

Any advice?

Answer 1

The subfolder should inherit the permissions from the root folder. Having one folder per contractor should suffice. The root should only have the employees that you want to see all contractor folders. Then whenever a new contractor folder gets created, just uninherit and add the contractor login.