Difference between Read, Restricted Read and View permissions

Question

When I started reading about permissions, I came through these three different permissions levels.

I got a bit of idea for what is Read Permission, but I cannot see the difference between the Restricted Read and View Permission?

Answer 1

To know this you should better understand about the SharePoint permissions. The below will give a quick idea about your query.

Read, View Only, Restricted read - These are all SharePoint Permission Levels

So what is permission level? Permission level is a collection of certain Base permissions. If you have Full control access in the site you may get it via,

Site Settings > Site Permissions > Permission Levels (in ribbon)

So what is base permission? It is the built-in permissions provided by SharePoint. The MSDN link gives more information about base permission. You may get it via,

Site Settings > Site Permissions > Permission Levels (in ribbon) > Click on required permission level

So coming to your query, the Base permissions is the key factor that makes the difference between Restriceted read and View permission. Given below the base permissions of View and Restricted read

Restricted Read

List Permissions

• View Items - View items in lists and documents in document libraries.
• Open Items - View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.

Site Permissions

• View Pages - View pages in a Web site.

• Open - Allows users to open a Web site, list, or folder in order to access items inside that container.

View Only

List Permissions

• View Items - View items in lists and documents in document libraries.

• Open Items - View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.

• View Versions - View past versions of a list item or document.

• Create Alerts - Create alerts.
• View Application Pages - View forms, views, and application pages. Enumerate lists.

Site Permissions

• Use Self-Service Site Creation - Create a Web site using Self-Service Site Creation.

• View Pages - View pages in a Web site.

• Browse User Information - View information about users of the Web site.
• Use Remote Interfaces - Use SOAP, Web DAV, the Client Object Model or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the Web site.
• Use Client Integration Features - Use features which launch client applications. Without this permission, users will have to work on documents locally and upload their changes.
• Open - Allows users to open a Web site, list, or folder in order to access items inside that container.

Hope it clarifies your query.