SharePoint - Permissions to specific content on a Sharepoint site

As a general rule, permissions to content on a sharepoint site (document library, list, etc) is inherited from its parent. So, in order to give permissions to a specific content in your site, you must first “stop inheritance”.

Here are the steps…

1. First, to see all the content on your site, the easiest wais to see all its contents. In most - if not all sites, you should be able to see a “Site Contents” item in your sidebar:

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2. That should give you a screen like the one below. Let’s say that you want to grant permissions specifically to the document library called “Documents”. Click on the ellipsis beside it and, from the drop-down menu, select “Settings”:

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3. You will get to the screen below. Now, from the options that will show, there will be one called “Permissions for this document library”. If the item as a “List”, it would say “Permissions for this List”. In any case, click it:

    

4. Now you are seeing all the people and groups with access to this item (the item in this case is a document library). Please note the button in the ribbon called “Stop Inheriting Permissions”. Please also note the message that says that “this library inherits permissions from its parent (it will change soon). If you want to give someone special access to this library, you must first stop inheriting permissions from its parent. Click this button. A dialog box will open asking you to confirm:

    

5. Once you confirm that you want to stop inheritance, the page changes (see below). The people and groups that had access before (through inheritance) remain. You can now remove them, or add new people, using the appropriate buttons:

VERY IMPORTANT: From this moment on, you will have to grant access to this library individually and directly in the library, using this same process, i.e., library >> settings >> permissions. New users that are granted access to the site will not be granted access to this library, as inheritance was stopped. If you retain the groups and add people to the groups, than you don’t need to add them individually to the library.