What is SharePoint Limited Access and How to Use it?

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Many organizations harness the robust capabilities of SharePoint as a collaboration powerhouse for document management, workflows, and team collaboration. A standout attribute of SharePoint lies in its adeptness at granting diverse user access levels. With a range of permission levels, SharePoint empowers users to interact with, modify, and oversee content based on their designated roles and responsibilities.

In certain situations, you might find it necessary to provide restricted access to a particular user or a designated group of users. This is where SharePoint’s limited access feature becomes relevant. In this blog, we’ll delve into the concept of SharePoint limited access and explore effective ways to leverage it for organizational success.

What is SharePoint Limited Access?

Limited access in SharePoint is a permission tier that allows users to enter a particular item or folder in the site while blocking access to the rest of the site. Users receive this permission when granted access to a specific item or folder, excluding the entire site or the parent folder of the item. It’s handy when you need to share a document with someone who isn’t a site member but requires access to that specific document.

When you bestow restricted access to a user, SharePoint generates a permission level specifically for that user, known as Limited Access. This permission level is individualized and cannot be applied to any other group or user. It enables users to reach the designated item or folder they’ve been given access to, without extending permission to the broader site content. This excludes access to the site’s settings, menus, and other documents.

Before providing restricted access to a user or group, it’s essential to confirm their access to the main site. Once the user or group has been granted access to the main site, proceed with the following steps to restrict their access to specific content.

• Go to the website where you intend to restrict access to a particular item.
• Select Manage access by clicking on the ellipsis (…) adjacent to the item (file, folder, etc.) for which you wish to limit access.
• In the Manage Access panel, click on Advanced in the bottom right corner.
• Now, click the ‘Stop Inheriting Permission’ tab and then click OK on the pop-up to confirm it.
• After disabling permission inheritance, choose “Grant Permission” and input the user’s name or email address. Within this panel, pick the suitable permission level for the specified user or group.

  

  Note – You can’t assign limited access permission directly to a user or group. Instead, when you assign edit or other permissions to the item, SharePoint automatically assign limited access permission to the other required locations.
• Click Share to grant limited access to the user or group.

After bestowing limited access permission to a user or group in SharePoint, they gain entry only to the specific content you’ve permitted. The broader site or library remains hidden from their view. Later, you can also customize permissions in SharePoint.

Here are some best practices to effectively use SharePoint limited access.

• Use it sparingly: Only grant limited access when it is necessary to protect confidential or sensitive information.
• Keep track of permissions: Make sure you keep track of who has been granted limited access and to which content.
• Regularly review permissions: Review limited access permissions regularly to ensure that users and groups still need access to the content they have been granted access to. You can easily check SharePoint site access permissions to users and groups.
• Train your users: Ensure your users understand the importance of limited access and know how to use it.

Conclusion:

Limited access in SharePoint is a valuable tool for safeguarding confidential or sensitive information within organizations. It enables users to access necessary content for their work while maintaining security. Adhering to best practices is crucial to harnessing limited access effectively, ensuring the ongoing security of your SharePoint site or library.

But sometimes, we need to migrate SharePoint data, including permissions. Don’t worry; you can easily migrate SharePoint permissions using an automated tool Kernel Migrator for SharePoint. The SharePoint Migration tool is an all-including migration solution that quickly migrates SharePoint data, including site collection, versions, metadata, and list & libraries.

Q- How to Remove Limited Access in SharePoint?

A- Sometimes, while managing permissions in SharePoint, we want to remove limited access permission from a particular site or document library. To remove limited access in SharePoint, you can follow the below steps:

• Navigate to the SharePoint site where the limited access permission is assigned.
• Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner and select Site settings.
• Under the Users and Permissions section, click on Site permissions.
• Find the user or group that has limited access permission and click on their name.
• In the ribbon at the top of the page, click on Remove User Permissions.
• Select the permission level you want to remove and click Remove.
• Click OK to confirm the removal.