SharePoint sync & files deletion

Question

Hello all

First off I am the Admin on my company's SharePoint site. Now down to business....

In the near future I will be giving my employees the option to download Office 365 apps to their off and personal computers, as they have been requesting this for a while. Currently they must all use the web portal to access all Office 365 apps (Word, OneNote, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint) I want them to be able to sync the files we currently have in our SharePoint to their computer for offline access but I do not want them to accidentally delete files which will delete them for everyone else who needs access to that library for documents. Is there anyway to prevent file deletions from SharePoint after a user sync that library with there computer?

Answer 1

Hi DannySmith007,

According to your description, you want the users to have the permission to sync files from site and not to delete the files.

You can do it by assigning the library permission to the users. Please follow the steps below:

1.  Navigate to the site you want to share with the users, click gear > Site settings > in the User and Permissions section, click Site permissions.

2.  Click Permission Levels in the ribbon.

3.  In the opened page, click Edit.

4.  Scroll down to the end of the page > click Copy Permission Level > type in the name, for example: no delete > uncheck the Delete items from a list and documents from a document library > Create.

5.  Then you can assign your users the permission no delete for the library. Go to the SharePoint library, click Library in ribbon > Library settings > Permissions for this document library.

6. Click Grant Permissions in the Library Permission page. In the share page, assign the user permission which you created.

7.  Then the user can sync files to local, but they can’t the delete the files in SharePoint Online library.

For your reference:

Edit permissions for a list, library, or individual item.

Understanding permission levels in SharePoint

Regards,

Linda

Answer 2

Hi Linda Wu,

Thank you for the information, it was extremely helpful. ☺

Answer 3

Hi DannySmith007,

Both of the ways are feasible, there is no big difference between them.

1.    For the one posted above, you can add the new permission you want via copying an existing permission level and just changing a few options, just as the step 4 posted above.

2.    For the Add a new permission level method, you can pick every permissions you want to create the new permission level.

Pick any one of the two methods to set the no delete permission level for your situation.

Please share any update at your convenience.

Regards,

Linda

Answer 4

Hey Lind Wu,

Thanks for the great info, just had one question: In step 3 where you said "In the opened page, click Edit." why wouldn't I just add a new permission level instead of using the "Edit" permission?

Answer 5

I think we are not able to prevent the file deletions after the file synced to local machine. But if they don't have the delete permission, it can be achieved. However, I don't think this is what you want. Because with this permission, they will also not able to delete the files in sites.