Access Request Form for SharePoint Online

Question

Access Request Form for SharePoint Online

Cindy Desantis 0

Does the current access request form for SharePoint Online allow the owner to place the user in a selected permission group (e.g. Vistors or Members) or is the user placed at the root level?

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Vikram Singh Sisodia 0

my exal fole not open

0 comments

Answer 2

Marcin Policht 102.2K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Unfortunately, AFAIK, this is not the case. Instead, when an owner approves a request through the Access Requests page, they assign a permission level like Read or Edit. This action grants the user direct permissions at the site or root level, rather than placing them into a managed SharePoint group.

The access request form operates by offering only permission levels during approval. The available options typically include Read, Contribute, Edit, or Full Control. When a request is approved, SharePoint assigns the selected permission level directly to the user. This results in direct access at either the item level or the site level, bypassing membership in default security groups such as Members or Visitors.

Additionally, the assigned permission generally applies to the entire site. The only exception occurs when the request originates from a specific list or library that has broken inheritance. In such cases, the permission applies only within that scoped resource rather than the full site.

Avoid relying on the access request form if group-based permission management is preferred. Instead, you can decline or ignore the request and manually assign users to the appropriate SharePoint group. To do this, navigate to Settings, then Site permissions, and select Advanced permission settings. From there, you can explicitly add the user to the desired group, such as Visitors or Members, ensuring more consistent and manageable access control.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Cindy Desantis 0 Reputation points

2026-07-29T18:33:13.9+00:00

When did this change? The Access Request has previously always allowed the owner to allow access to the permission groups that are created with the site.
Marcin Policht 102.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T23:36:25.5966667+00:00

Just to make sure we're on the same page, I'm referring to the following:

Under Permissions, select the permission level you'd like to assign the user (if you plan to approve the request). You can also optionally type a message to the person requesting access; this can be a useful way to document your decision.in the Approve or decline access requests for a SharePoint site section of https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sharepoint-sharing-and-permissions/set-up-and-manage-access-requests

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin
Simpson, Chris 5 Reputation points

2026-08-11T08:07:17.95+00:00
This change appears to have been introduced without sufficient communication or consideration of the operational and governance implications.

Site owners have continued to approve access requests believing, based on the previous behaviour, that requesters would be added to the site's default Members group. The current process instead grants users permissions directly at the site level, without making that distinction clear to the approver.

As a result, organisations may now have accumulated direct user permissions across multiple sites. Those users might also be unable to access uniquely permissioned libraries or lists where the default Members group is present but the individual user is not.

Microsoft should clarify:

why this design decision was made;

when the behaviour changed;

how the change was communicated to administrators;

whether group-based approval can be restored or configured; and

what remediation Microsoft recommends for permissions already granted through the new process.
Tiffany Gast 30 Reputation points

2026-08-14T09:36:11+00:00

This is a terrible change to have been rolled out without much communication. It's counter intuitive to previous guidance and is already causing a massive negative knock on affect to site security and causing access issues.

When complex sites have multiple locations with broken inheritance, granting access by default to permission groups is essential. What this change has done is simply added more work for admins and greatly opened up the chances of incorrect permissions.

If it won't be rolled back, there should at least be an option in the access request settings to make groups a default choice. I think Microsoft designers who come up with these ideas sometimes need to remember the Sharepoint is for businesses that need things simple and structured control, not another form of social media that likes bubbly UIs and 'we think you want this so we'll do it for you'.