How can I safely remove limited access restrictions imposed by sharing documents with users with elevated permissions?

Question

I'm an administrator of several SharePoints and have noticed that many of my sites have limited access restrictions imposed on many users with elevated (owner) permissions.

It seems as if SPOL imposes these restrictions when documents are shared internally with previously permissioned users. Why is this happening and how can I safely clear these limited access restrictions?

Thanks!

Answer 1

@GORDON DRAKE

Limited Access permission does not mean that the users are "limited" or blocked. In fact, it enables a user or group to browse to a site page or library to access a specific content item when they do not have permissions to open or edit any other items in the site or library. This level is automatically assigned by SharePoint when you provide access to one specific item.

Think about a situation with a common list. User A does not have permission on that list. However we need A to check a specific item inside the list. So we share that item to user A. In this way, user A now can view the item and still have no access to other items in that list. To make it happen, SharePoint automatically grant user A a limited access permission level. In this way, user A can navigate to the the list and find the item he has permission. Otherwise he cannot even view this list.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.