Access to doc lib sub-folder

Question

I have a sub-folder within a doc library. I clicked on 3 dots, manage access, advance and stop inheriting. Cleared down previous users/groups and added 5 new users with edit access.

Now we find that the folder can still be accessed in edit mode by all previous users and is not restricted to the 5 we added. I have checked the folder permissions etc and folder is showing unique permissions. I have also done 'check permissions' and input a user that should not have access and its showing that user has edit access.

I cannot understand why other users can still access the folder as editors.

Answer 1

Dear Hanif888,

Thanks for posting back.

For the issue that might be backend service related, higher level support team need to be involved in to investigate further. We'd like to confirm if you have contacted Online Support via creating ticket from Admin center?

If yes, please confirm whether the support engineer there can escalate the case or create a ticket with Premium Support a suggested by them. Sorry for that as forum support, we may have limited resources to contact Support team or check from backend service.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused again. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation! Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Unfortunately I did not get a satisfactory resolution from MS support. The work-around suggested by them did not work.

They also said they did not have access to check tenant background service as suggested above and that we need to look up Premium Support.

To me this is a serious security issue which MS should look at. People are using 'Manage Access' to control/tie down access to folders yet they are unaware that other users can access the folders.

Answer 3

Dear Hanif888,

Thanks for posting back.

We've also done test and we cannot reproduce a similar situation on our side, below attached are the screenshot of "Check permission" for the global admin in folder with unique permission:

Given this, there's a possibility that issue could be related to the tenant background service which need to be checked from the backend.

As forum support, we may not have enough permission and resource to directly check the backend environment, more resources need to be involved in.

In this situation, we sincerely recommend you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator, follow steps in this article to create a support ticket with Online Support. The support team over there has higher permission than us, they can remotely help check the situation on your side, involve more resource to collect logs and help you do troubleshoot. This would be a more efficient way in handling this case for you.

 For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

Sorry for the inconvenience caused again. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation! Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 4

I tried this: I stopped inheritance, deleted all permissions. So in essence nobody had access to this folder (except admin). Then I checked a user through 'check permissions' and it was showing that user as having contribute access. See attached screenshots.

Answer 5

Dear Hanif888,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

As per your description, it seems that you are having issue with permission for a sub-folder in SharePoint document library, you have break inheritance and remove previous users and groups to set unique permission to five specific users, however, still some of the other user can access the folder unexpectedly.

If the understanding above is right, to help you better, would you please share some screenshots of the permission page and the check permission result for the user that should not have permission on the sub-folder, this can help us understand how he get the edit access as shown below:

Meanwhile, we'd recommend you Delete unique permission, and then Stop Inheriting Permission, remove all the permissions for the subfolder and grant again to check the outcome.

Welcome to post back if any updates. We look forward to your reply.

If the understanding above is not consistent with yours, you can also post back and point that.

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. We hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator