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I have a requirement for my document library. I want to hide or disable the download option for all users. They should only be able to view the documents.

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You can set "Download to Offline clients" as No at your library level settings. Go to Library Settings --> Advanced settings --> select NO To download

Refer my answer in similar thread

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  • Thank you Dvg, this is exactly what i was looking for. You made my day!
    – K.Dave
    Jun 22, 2017 at 7:39
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    @K.Dave - the problem with this, is that users can still copy (or do anything else, even move or delete) the file if they access the location through SharePoint's Content and structure -tool, or by "Open in Explorer"-view, if the users just have the permissions. Even a permission level Read is able to do unwanted actions (i.e. download by copying). In other words, this only hides the problem, not solves it. Therefore it's by far more better practice to handle the requirement with user permissions.
    – moe
    Jun 22, 2017 at 7:53
  • Yes @Moe, i have setup view permissions for library users. So that no one should delete, move files. Now also I have removed download options
    – K.Dave
    Jun 22, 2017 at 8:47
  • If they can view them they can copy/paste or screen shot them. Like moe says, this is just security by inconvenience.
    – Derek Gusoff
    Jun 22, 2017 at 12:15
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    I am not able to hide download option after applying this configuration in SharePoint online.
    – Gopal Zadafiya
    Sep 21, 2018 at 9:52
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If you want to disable the download-option for your users, they should have View Only permission level. Permission levels Read and any greater include the permission for downloading a file.

View Only permission levels still includes the following permissions:

View pages, items, and documents. Any document that has a server-side file handler can be viewed in the browser but not downloaded. File types that do not have a server-side file handler (cannot be opened in the browser), such as video files, .pdf files, and .png files, can still be downloaded.

Source: Understanding permission levels in SharePoint

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  • This explains only the permission structure of sharepoint
    – K.Dave
    Jun 22, 2017 at 7:38
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    @K.Dave the link was provided as a reference, not as to be a source for an answer. The given answer (the first sentence of the answer) is the SharePoint's way of both hiding and disabling the download for users.
    – moe
    Jun 22, 2017 at 7:51
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Information Rights Management is the only way to protect the documents and don't allow user save the document in his/her system. You need to setup IRM on your network and the enable it in Central Administration.

You can find the step and more detail from below links

1.https://www.concurrency.com/blog/w/office-365-%E2%80%93-rms-irm-external-sharing

2.https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Apply-Information-Rights-Management-to-a-list-or-library-6714cfe3-ef39-43b0-bb65-a887726bb63c?CorrelationId=525cc85a-a6ab-45b0-a412-805223878de7&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US&ocmsassetID=HA101790603

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