Copy permissions of a folder and subfolder in a library

Question

I have a library that contains different projects. The projects are created based on a specific project structure format in the same library as a sample for the users using that library.

Currently, the owners of that library assign permissions to the users after the project is created manually.

I want to simplify the process of assigning permissions to the users and avoid manual assignments for the owners.

I thought about creating different project formats, assigning permissions to the formats based on my requirements, and asking the owners to simply copy/paste the formats and assign only the required metadata columns.

However, it seems that copy/paste does not take into consideration the permissions assigned for the format folders/subfolders structure and keeps inheriting permission from the parent library.

What is the best practice/solution to avoid the manual permission assignments for the projects based on different formats by using copy/paste commands? Can someone provide an example of whether the above is feasible?

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer 1

You could try the code in the blog:

  #PowerShell Function to copy permissions between Folders in SharePoint Online
    Function Copy-PnPFolderPermissions
    {
        [cmdletbinding()]
         param(
             [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] [string] $WebURL,
             [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] [string] $SourceFolderURL,
             [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] [string] $TargetFolderURL,
             [Parameter(Mandatory=$False)] [Bool] $AppendToExisting = $True
         )
        Try {
            #Connect to PnP Online
            Connect-PnPOnline -Url $WebURL -Interactive
 
        #Get the Web
        $Web = Get-PnPweb
        $Ctx = Get-PnPContext
 
        #Get Source and Target Folders
        $SourceFolderItem = Get-PnPFolder -Url $SourceFolderURL -Includes ListItemAllFields.HasUniqueRoleAssignments
        $SourceFolder = $SourceFolderItem.ListItemAllFields
        $TargetFolderItem = Get-PnPFolder -Url $TargetFolderURL -Includes ListItemAllFields.HasUniqueRoleAssignments
        $TargetFolder = $TargetFolderItem.ListItemAllFields
 
        #if permissions are Inherited in Target Folder, Break the Inheritance
        If(!$TargetFolder.HasUniqueRoleAssignments)
        {
            If($AppendToExisting -eq $True)
            {
                #Break Folder permissions - keep all existing permissions & Clear Item level permissions
                $TargetFolder.BreakRoleInheritance($True,$False)
            }
            else
            {
                $TargetFolder.BreakRoleInheritance($False,$False)
            }
        }
        Else #If the Folder has unique Permissions already
        {
            If($AppendToExisting -eq $False)
            {
                $TargetFolder.ResetRoleInheritance()
                $TargetFolder.BreakRoleInheritance($False,$False)
            }
        }
        Invoke-PnPQuery
 
        #Get all permissions assigned to the source folder
        $SourceRoleAssignments = Get-PnPProperty -ClientObject $SourceFolder -Property RoleAssignments
  
        #Copy Source Folder permissions to Destination Folder
        ForEach($RoleAssignment in $SourceRoleAssignments)
        {
            #Get RoleDefinitions of the Role Assignment
            Get-PnPProperty -ClientObject $RoleAssignment -Property RoleDefinitionBindings, Member
 
            #Leave the Hidden permissions
            If($RoleAssignment.Member.IsHiddenInUI -eq $False)
            {
                $SourcePermissions = $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings | Where {$_.Name -notin("Limited Access")}
                $PermissionLevels = ($SourcePermissions | Select -ExpandProperty Name) -join "; "
 
                If($SourcePermissions -ne $null)
                {
                    #Add Source Folder's Permission Level to the Target Folder
                    $RoleDefBindings = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.RoleDefinitionBindingCollection($Ctx)
                    ForEach($RoleDefinition in $SourcePermissions)
                    {
                        $RoleDefBindings.Add($RoleDefinition)
                    }
                    $Permissions = $TargetFolder.RoleAssignments.Add($RoleAssignment.Member,$RoleDefBindings)
                    $TargetFolder.Update()
                    Invoke-PnPQuery
                    Write-host "Copied '$($RoleAssignment.Member.Title)' with Permissions '$PermissionLevels'"
                }
            }
        }
    }
    Catch {
        write-host -f Red "Error Copying Folder Permissions!" $_.Exception.Message
    }
}
 
#Set Parameters
$WebURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing"
 
#Server Relative URLs of Source and Target Folders
$SourceFolderURL = "/sites/Marketing/Shared Documents/Old"
$TargetFolderURL = "/sites/Marketing/Shared Documents/New"
 
#Call the function to copy Folder permissions
Copy-PnPFolderPermissions -WebURL $WebURL -SourceFolderURL $SourceFolderURL -TargetFolderURL $TargetFolderURL

Reference:

How to Copy Permissions from One Folder to Another in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?

============Update=====================

Thanks for the reply. I have updated my answer in this thread in Q&A forum to help more people in the future:Copy permissions of a folder and subfolder in a library.