Manage permission levels

What do you want to do?

Open the Permission Levels page

Create a permission level

Copy a permission level

Edit a permission level

Delete a permission level

Inherit permission levels from the parent site

Permissions enable you to determine who can access your portal site and what they can do with the content in it. For example, you can set up permissions to allow project members to add or modify content but only allow people outside the project to view content without changing it. You can also set up permissions to allow a few individuals to control the site layout and administration.

Permissions are granted by assigning specific permission levels to either individuals or groups. The following permission levels are provided by default:

• Full Control gives administrator access to the site. Members of the Home Owners group have this permission level by default. This permission level cannot be customized or deleted.

• Design enables users to change the layout and settings on the pages to which they are granted rights. Users in this group can create lists and document libraries, edit pages, and apply themes, borders, and style sheets on the site or site collection.

• Contribute enables users to submit content to areas in the site to which they are granted rights. Users in this group can add, edit, and delete items in existing lists and document libraries. Members of the Home Members group are assigned this permission level by default.

  Note:  In Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, users with Contribute-level permissions can edit list items, which was not allowed in previous versions of SharePoint Portal Server. This is an important difference for groups who are upgrading to Office SharePoint Server 2007.

• Read enables users and groups to search for, view, and browse through content on the site. Users and groups with this permission level can also open current items and document. This permission level is assigned to the Home Visitors group by default.

• Restricted read is designed to give users access to a specific list, document library, item, or document, without giving them access to the entire site. Previous document versions and user rights information are not available to people and groups with this permission level.

• Approve enables users to edit and approve pages, list items, and documents.

• Manage Hierarchy enables users to create sites and edit pages, list items, and documents.

Managing permissions of a parent site affects not only the parent site, but all subsites that inherit from the parent site, so it is important to carefully consider any changes to permission levels. If you want to change permissions on a subsite that inherits permissions and you do not want to change the parent site permissions, you can stop the subsite from inheriting permissions and then create unique permissions on the subsite.

Because permission levels are managed at the site level, you can do the following tasks on the top-level Web site of a site collection or on any subsite that has unique permissions.

Open the Permission Levels page

All changes that you make to permission levels start at the Permission Levels page.

1. On the portal home page, click the Site Actions menu, point to Site Settings, and then click People and Groups.

2. On the People and Groups page, in the Quick Launch, click Site Permissions.

3. On the Settings menu, click Permission Levels.

   Note: The Settings menu is not available on the Permissions page if your site inherits permissions from its parent site. If the Settings menu is not available, select Manage Permissions of Parent from the Actions menu.

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Create a permission level

1. On the Permission Levels page, click Add a Permission Level.

2. On the Add a Permission Level page, in the Name and Description section, type a name and optionally a description.

3. Select the check boxes for the permissions you want to associate with this permission level, and then click Create.

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Copy a permission level

1. On the Permission Levels page, click the name of the permission level you want to copy.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the Edit Permission Level page, and then click Copy Permission Level.

3. In the Permission Level Name and Description section, type the name and optionally a description for the new permission level.

4. Click Create.

   The new permission level appears on the Permission Levels page.

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Edit a permission level

Use these steps to make changes to any custom permission levels or any of the default permission levels other than Full Control or Restricted Read.

1. On the Permission Levels page, click the name of the permission level you want to edit.

   On the Edit Permission Level page, you can make the following changes:

   • Change the description of the permission level.

   • Select the check boxes for the permissions that you want associated with this permission level, and clear the check boxes for the permissions that you do not want associated with this permission level.

2. After you have made your changes, click Submit.

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Delete a permission level

Use these steps to delete custom permission levels or any of the default permission levels other than Full Control or Restricted Read. These two levels cannot be deleted.

1. On the Permission Levels page, select the check boxes for the permission levels you want to delete, and then click Delete Selected Permission Levels.

2. Click OK to confirm.

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Inherit permission levels from the parent site

If your portal site has unique permissions, you can inherit permission levels from the parent site at any time.

Important: Inheriting permission levels from the parent site permanantly discards all custom permission levels that you might have created for this site.

1. On the Permission Levels page, click Inherit Permission Levels from the Parent Web Site.

2. Click OK to confirm.

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