Sharepoint 365 Folder Permissions

Question

I have searched for a while but can not find an answer so thought i would ask the question..

I am trying to set up sharepoint so that at a top level i have:

Home directory with eight sub folders then each of those eight sub folders will have folders/ documents within them.

My question is can i grant everyone in the company permission to have access to the main Home folder then everyone can see each of the eight folders but when they click on one of the eight folders it only allows them into that folder (and its sub folders/ documents) if they have the correct permission levels?

Or do they only see the folders that they have access to?

Also when a user goes into one of the eight high level folders i want them to only have access to certain folders within the high level folder they have accessed. Is that possible like the above question or do they only see the folders that they have access to?

Thanks for your help!

Matt

Answer 1

Within a SharePoint Document Library, each user will only be able to see folders that they have access to. Folders that they don't have access to will be completely hidden. You won't be able to get around this.

An alternative solution might be to:

1. setup your document library with the 8 sub-folders
2. adjust the permissions for each folder accordingly
3. Update the site's landing page to include a link to each of your 8 folders (you should end up with 8 links, one per subfolder)

When a user clicks on a link to a folder that they don't have access to, they will arrive at an access denied page. It's not very user friendly, but should accomplish your requirement above.

Answer 2

Yes it seems to be possible, for that you need to enable Item level permission and give separate permission to each of your folders.

Below are steps from Ref link

Break permission inheritance on a folder, document, or list item

By default, folders, documents, and list items inherit permissions from their parent securable object. In most cases, this means that they inherit their permissions from the list or library that contains them. In the case where folders, documents, and list items are contained by other folders, they would, by default, inherit permissions from the folder that contains them. Use the following steps if you want to break this inheritance and create unique permissions on a particular folder, document, or list item.

At a later time, you can choose to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object. Note that inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that were created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

Open the list or library that contains the folder, document, or list item on which you want to break inheritance from the parent securable object.

Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to break inheritance, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups on this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

On the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.

NOTE: The Edit Permissions option is not available on the Actions menu if this securable object has unique permissions that are not being inherited from the parent securable object.