Despite having full control I am not able to create or edit permission levels in my subsite

Question

I am trying to remove the delete option from the 'contribute' permission level in my sharepoint subsite. I am the owner and have full control of this subsite. However when I navigate to the 'edit permission level' page for 'contribute' I am not able to select or unselect the permissions. Anybody knows why?

Answer 1

SharePoint permission levels are defined at the site collection level

Source (2013) : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640.aspx

Source (2010) : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640(v=office.14).aspx

Source (2007) : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640(v=office.12).aspx

Being a site owner or subsite owner does not grant you enough permissions to alter the permissions levels of a site. You need Site Collection Administrator permissions at least.

You can also set these permission levels at the Web Application (farm) level.

It may be worth asking your Farm Admins or Site Collection Admins to create some specific permission groups for use in your subsite.