Open access share point

Question

Hi, my questions is two fold:

1. do we have a share point which as an open access i.e. read only access can be provided by default to all employees without someone going and approving these requests manually
2. If the above is no, then is there a functionality within the current SP, where we can build a page with open access?

Answer 1

Hi @Tanuj KATHURIA, 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.                

Regarding that you want to give other user "Read only" access in your SharePoint site. 

You don't need to build a custom workflow or approve access requests one by one. SharePoint Online includes a built‑in, dynamic group called "Everyone except external users" (EEEU) that automatically contains every internal user provisioned in your Microsoft 365 tenant (licensed or unlicensed), and excludes guests/external users.  

By adding that group to the Visitors group (Read permission level) of a SharePoint site, every employee in your organization gets read‑only access automatically no access requests, no manual approval. New employees added to the tenant later are also covered automatically.  

Steps to configure it 

1. Go to the SharePoint site > click the gear icon  > Site permissions. 
2. Click Advanced permission settings. 
3. Open the Visitors group > New > Add users. 
4. Type "Everyone except external users" and select it (please make sure you do not pick "Everyone", which would include guests).  
5. (Optional) Click Show options and uncheck Send an email invitation if you don't want a notification sent. 
6. Click Share. 

Thank you again for your time and understanding. I really appreciate your patience, and I’m here to help. Looking forward to your response!     

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Answer 2

1. Yes. A SharePoint site can be configured so that all employees have read‑only access by default, without manual approval of each request.

Typical approach:

• Create (or use) a communication/intranet site as the “home base” for company‑wide content.
• Grant read permissions to an organization‑wide group (for example, “All Employees”) by adding that group to the Visitors group of the site.
• Keep permissions inheritance enabled for subsites/libraries that should also be open so they automatically share the same read‑only access.

This way, anyone in that group can view content without individual approvals, while edit rights remain limited to Owners/Members.

2. Yes. Within current SharePoint, it is possible to build pages that are open (read‑only) to everyone in the organization.

Key practices from site governance guidance:

• Use standard groups: put most users in Members or Visitors, and keep Owners limited for administration.
• Use permissions inheritance for a clean hierarchy; avoid granting permissions to individuals and instead use groups.
• Organize content by security level: for example, keep sensitive documents in a separate site or library with more restrictive permissions, and keep the “open access” site/library for general information.

If external/anonymous access is required (for people outside the organization), that must be explicitly enabled at the web application level and then granted at site/list/item level. Anonymous users can only view items (no uploads/edits) and enabling this has security implications, so it is disabled by default and should be used cautiously.

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References:

• SharePoint: Your company's home base
• Information management and governance in SharePoint
• Overview: Site governance, permission, and sharing for site owners
• Overview of security groups in SharePoint Server