Manage membership of SharePoint groups

If you are a site collection administrator or a site owner, you create or delete SharePoint groups, or change the membership of groups to control who has access to your sites and content.

Note:  Anyone assigned a permission level that includes the Create Groups permission can create new groups.

For information about working with the security and distribution groups that are included in Active Directory Domain Services, see Choose security groups (TechNet).

I want to

Add users to a group

Remove users from a group

Grant a group access to a site

Create a new group

Delete a group

Assign a new permission level to a group

Add or change a site collection administrator

To follow the procedures in this topic, you need to have the Manage Permissions permissions level for the site or content you are working with.

To see if you have the Manage Permissions permissions level, click the Site Actions menu and look for the Site Permissions option. If you don't see it, you don't have permission to manage permissions.

Add users to a group

1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Permissions.
   The permissions page opens, and the ribbon displays the Permission Tools tab and commands you use to manage permissions.

2. On the permissions page, click the link for the security group to which you want to add users.

3. On the People and Groups - GroupName page, on the New menu, click Add Users.

In the Grant Permissions dialog box, in the Select Users section, use the Browse button to select the users that you want to add to this security group.

1. Click OK.

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Remove users from a group

1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Permissions.

2. On the permissions page, click the link for the group from which you want to remove users.

Select the check boxes for the users that you want to remove from this security group.

1. On the Actions menu, click Remove Users from Group.

2. Click OK.

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Grant a group access to a site

1. Click Site Permissions on the Site Actions menu to open the site permissions page.

2. Click the Grant Permissions button.

In the Grant Permissions dialog box, type the names of the groups (or users) to whom you want to grant access to your site. If you type the names of users, it's a good idea to add them to an existing group in the second section of the dialog box, Grant Permissions. (You can grant permissions to individual users directly. However, the cost of maintaining a system such as that adds up quickly.)

1. Click OK.

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Create a new group

1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Permissions.

2. On the Permission Tools tab, click Create Group.

3. On the Create Group page, in the Name and About Me Description section, specify the name and optionally a description for this security group.

4. In the Ownersection, specify the owner of this security group.

5. In the Group Settings section, specify who can view and edit the membership of this group.

In the Membership Requests section, specify the settings that you want for requests to join or leave the group.

1. Click Create.

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Delete a group

1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Permissions.

2. On the permissions page, click the link for the security group that you want to delete.

3. On the Settings menu, click Group Settings.

4. On the Change Group Settings page, scroll to the bottom of the page, and then click Delete.

5. Click OK.

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Assign a new permission level to a group

If you have customized a permission level, or created a new permission level, you can assign it to groups or users.

1. On the top-level Web site of the site collection, click the Site Actions menu, and then click Site Permissions.

2. Select the check box next to the person or group that you want to assign the new permission level to.

3. Click the Edit User Permissions button.

4. In the Edit Permissions dialog box, check the name of the new permission level, and then click OK.

Add or change a site collection administrator

1. At the top level of your site collection, click Site Actions and then Site Settings.

2. Under Users and Permissions, click Site Collection Administrators.

In the Site Collection Administrators field, type or browse to find the name of the person that you want to designate a site collection administrator.

1. Click OK.

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