Inside the "Access Request Settings" when we should Allow or Prevent Contributor users from sharing Files and Folders inside our sites

Question

When we create a new site we get this option to allow Contributor users to share files and folders:-

most of the cases i UN-check these check-boxes because if we allow contributor users to share files and folders then we will end up having a lot of files and folders with unique permissions which will make managing the permissions a real pain. I usually as a SharePoint developer/team-leader create a long running sites (sites which will be used for long time), while our end-users creates team sites to manage the documents/tasks about short running projects or tasks, and inside these sites end-users are allowed to share files and folders...

so now i need to make a policy for allowing/preventing end users from sharing files and folders, and i came out with these points:-

1) For long running sites and sites which have a clear permission structure we only allow site admin to share file and folders.. and the admin is advised to only share main folders inside document library. for example if we have a main document library the admin can create 4 main folders for HR,IT,Finance,Management and set unique permission on these 4 main folders only.

2) For short running sites and sites which do not have a clear permission structure, we will allow contributors users to share files and folders.

in the policy i am assuming that long running site should have a clear permission structure, while short running sites do not have a clear permission structure.. and in our case this apply to 90%++ of the sites inside our company.

any advice on my above policy? Thanks

Answer 1

Hello @john john ,

Whether to allow or prevent Contributor users from sharing files and folders on the site？

The answer is--it depends.

• If you have a company department site or some private team sites (ex, HR or executives), you might want to control security as a Site Owner and not allow the decision to be determined by team members. So, you should choice “Only site owners can share files, folders, and the site". In this case, Contributor users can only sharing files, folders, and items with the "Site Owners" or "People with existing access". However, the Site Owner can sharing with others.
• On another hand, if is a project site and people come and go, and you want to reinforce a collaborative environment, as a project manager/site owner you should choice "Site owners and members, and people with Edit permissions can share files and folders, but only site owners can share the site" .

Contribute permission enables users to manage personal views, edit items and user information, delete versions in existing lists and document libraries, and add, remove, and update personal Web Parts.

Thanks,
Echo Du

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