Powershell script to make files in a sharepoint online folder read only

Question

Hi,

We have a requirement to make certain files in a SharePoint online folder to read only via Powershell script. Please let me know how it can be achieved

Thanks,

Komal

Answer 1

Hi @Agarwal, Komal

Per my research, there is no direct way to set the SharePoint folder to read-only! The read-only mode can be set only on SharePoint site collections (How to Make a Site Collection Read-Only) or on content databases (Set SharePoint Content Database to Read Only Mode). However, we can make a SharePoint library to read-only by replacing all user’s permissions into “Read-only”. The following script will restrict users from making changes to the list or library.

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
 
#Configuration Parameters
$SiteURL="https://intranet.crescent.com/"
$ListName= "Projects"
 
#Get the Web and List
$Web = Get-SPWeb $SiteURL
$List = $Web.Lists.TryGetList($ListName)
 
#Break Permissions of the List
If ($List.HasUniqueRoleAssignments -eq $false)
{
    $List.BreakRoleInheritance($true)
}
 
#Get Read Permission Level
$ReadPermission = $web.RoleDefinitions["Read"]
 
#Get All User & Groups granted Permissions to the List
ForEach ($RoleAssignment in $List.RoleAssignments)
{
    Write-host "Resetting Permissions for :"$RoleAssignment.Member.Name -f Yellow
 
    #Replace All other permissions with "Read" if its not granted already
    $RoleDefinitionBindings = $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings
    Foreach($RoleDefBinding in $RoleDefinitionBindings)
    {
        IF( ($RoleDefBinding.Name -ne "Read") -and ($RoleDefBinding.Name -ne "Restricted Read") -and ($RoleDefBinding.Name -ne "View Only") -and ($RoleDefBinding.Name -ne "Limited Access") )
        {
            #Grant Read ACcess if its not present
            If(!($RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Contains($ReadPermission)))
            {
                $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add($ReadPermission)
                $RoleAssignment.Update()
                Write-host "Added Read Permissions to "$RoleAssignment.Member.Name -ForegroundColor Green
            }
        }
        else
        {
            continue;
        }
    }
 
    #Remove All permissions other than Read or Similar
    $RoleDefinitionBindings = $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings
    For($i=$RoleDefinitionBindings.Count-1; $i -ge 0; $i--)
    {
        $RoleDefBinding = $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings[$i]       
 
        IF( ($RoleDefBinding.Name -eq "Read") -or ($RoleDefBinding.Name -eq "Restricted Read") -or ($RoleDefBinding.Name -eq "View Only") -or ($RoleDefBinding.Name -eq "Limited Access") )
        {
            continue;
        }
        Else
        {
            $RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Remove($RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings[$i])
            $RoleAssignment.Update()
            Write-host  Removed  $RoleDefBinding.Name Permissions from $RoleAssignment.Member.Name -ForegroundColor Red
        }
    }
}

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