On-premises SharePoint Server user permissions and permission levels

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Default permission levels

Default permission levels are made up of a set of permissions that enable users to perform a collection of related tasks. SharePoint Server includes seven permission levels. You can customize the permissions contained within five of these permission levels. You can't customize the permissions within the Limited Access and Full Control permission levels.

Note

Although you can't directly edit the Limited Access and Full Control permission levels, you can make individual permissions unavailable for the entire web application, which removes those permissions from the Limited Access and Full Control permission levels. For more information, see Manage permissions for a web application in SharePoint Server.

The following table lists the default permission levels for team sites in SharePoint Server.

Permission level	Description	Permissions included by default
View Only	Enables users to view application pages. The View Only permission level is used for the Excel Services Viewers group. For SharePoint Server 2019 and Subscription Edition, the View Only permission level won't be provided until the “SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection features” is activated.	View Application Pages View Items View Versions Create Alerts Use Self Service Site Creation View Pages Browse User Information Use Remote Interfaces Use Client Integration Features Open
Limited Access	Enables users to access shared resources and a specific asset. Limited Access is designed to be combined with fine-grained permissions to enable users to access a specific list, document library, folder, list item, or document, without enabling them to access the whole site. Limited Access can't be edited or deleted. Note: when sharing a link to a document with all users in your organization, SharePoint will assign the Limited Access permission via a group name "Limited Access System Group" that's applied the first time a user - who doesn't otherwise have permission via the link - accesses the resource	View Application Pages Browse User Information Use Remote Interfaces Use Client Integration Features Open
Read	Enables users to view pages and list items, and to download documents.	Limited Access permissions, plus: View Items Open Items View Versions Create Alerts Use Self-Service Site Creation View Pages
Contribute	Enables users to manage personal views; edit items and user information; delete versions in existing lists and document libraries; and add, remove, and update personal Web Parts.	Read permissions, plus: Add Items Edit Items Delete Items Delete Versions Browse Directories Edit Personal User Information Manage Personal Views Add/Remove Personal Web Parts Update Personal Web Parts
Edit	Enables users to manage lists.	Contribute permissions, plus: Manage Lists
Design	Enables users to view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize items or pages in the website.	Edit permissions, plus: Add and Customize Pages Apply Themes and Borders Apply Style Sheets Override List Behaviors Approve Items
Full Control	Enables users to have full control of the website.	All permissions

If you use a site template other than the team site template, you'll see a different list of default SharePoint permission levels. For example, the following table shows additional permission levels provided with the publishing template.

Permission level	Description	Permissions included by default
Restricted Read	View pages and documents. For publishing sites only.	View Items Open Items View Pages Open
Approve	Edit and approve pages, list items, and documents. For publishing sites only.	Contribute permissions, plus: Override List Behaviors Approve Items
Manage Hierarchy	Create sites; edit pages, list items, and documents; and change site permissions. For Publishing sites only.	Design permissions minus the Approve Items, Apply Themes and Borders, and Apply Style Sheets permissions, plus: Manage permissions View Web Analytics Data Create Subsites Manage Alerts Enumerate Permissions Manage Web Site

User permissions

SharePoint Server includes 33 permissions, which are used in the default permission levels. You can configure which permissions are included in a particular permission level (except for the Limited Access and Full Control permission levels), or you can create a new permission level to contain specific permissions.

Permissions are categorized as list permissions, site permissions, and personal permissions, depending on the objects to which they can be applied. For example, site permissions apply to a particular site, list permissions apply only to lists and libraries, and personal permissions apply only to certain objects, such as personal views and private Web Parts. The following tables describe what each permission is used for, the dependent permissions, and the permission levels in which it's included.

List permissions

Permission	Description	Dependent permissions	Included in these permission levels by default
Manage Lists	Create and delete lists, add or remove columns in a list, and add or remove public views of a list.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Edit, Design, Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Override List Behaviors	Discard or check-in a document that's checked out to another user, and change or override settings that allow users to read/edit only their own items.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Design, Full Control
Add Items	Add items to lists, and add documents to document libraries.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Edit Items	Edit items in lists, edit documents in document libraries, and customize Web Part pages in document libraries.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Delete Items	Delete items from a list, and documents from a document library.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
View Items	View items in lists, and documents in document libraries.	View Pages, Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Approve Items	Approve a minor version of list items or a document.	Edit Items, View Items, View Pages, Open	Design, Full Control
Open Items	View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
View Versions	View past versions of a list item or document.	View Items, Open Items, View Pages, Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Delete Versions	Delete past versions of list items or documents.	View Items, View Versions, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Create Alerts	Create alerts.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
View Application Pages	View forms, views, and application pages. Enumerate lists.	Open	All

Site permissions

Permission	Description	Dependent permissions	Included in these permission levels by default
Manage Permissions	Create and change permission levels on the website and assign permissions to users and groups.	View Items, Open Items, View Versions, Browse Directories, View Pages, Enumerate Permissions, Browse User Information, Open	Full Control
View Web Analytics Data	View reports on website usage.	View Pages, Open	Full Control
Create Subsites	Create subsites such as team sites, Meeting Workspace sites, and Document Workspace sites.	View Pages, Browse User Information, Open	Full Control
Manage Web Site	Grants the ability to perform all administration tasks for the website, and to manage content.	View Items, Add and Customize Pages, Browse Directories, View Pages, Enumerate Permissions, Browse User Information, Open	Full Control
Add and Customize Pages	Add, change, or delete HTML pages or Web Part pages, and edit the website.	View Items, Browse Directories, View Pages, Open	Design, Full Control
Apply Themes and Borders	Apply a theme or borders to the whole website.	View Pages, Open	Design, Full Control
Apply Style Sheets	Apply a style sheet (.css file) to the website.	View Pages, Open	Design, Full Control
Create Groups	Create a group of users that can be used anywhere within the site collection.	View Pages, Browse User Information, Open	Full Control
Browse Directories	Enumerate files and folders in a website by using SharePoint Designer 2013 and Web DAV interfaces.	View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Use Self-Service Site Creation	Create a website using Self-Service Site Creation.	View Pages, Browse User Information, Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
View Pages	View pages in a website.	Open	Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Enumerate Permissions	Enumerate permissions on the website, list, folder, document, or list item.	Browse Directories, View Pages, Browse User Information, Open	Full Control
Browse User Information	View information about users of the website.	Open	All
Manage Alerts	Manage alerts for all users of the website.	View Items, View Pages, Open, Create Alerts	Full Control
Use Remote Interfaces	Use SOAP, Web DAV, the Client Object Model, or SharePoint Designer 2013 interfaces to access the website.	Open	All
Use Client Integration Features	Use features that launch client applications. Without this permission, users must work on documents locally and then upload their changes.	Use Remote Interfaces, Open, View Items	All
Open	Enables users to open a website, list, or folder to access items inside that container.	None	All
Edit Personal User Information	Enables users to change their own user information, such as adding a picture.	Browse User Information, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control

Personal permissions

Permission	Description	Dependent permissions	Included in these permission levels by default
Manage Personal Views	Create, change, and delete personal views of lists.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Add/Remove Personal Web Parts	Add or remove personal Web Parts on a Web Part page.	View Items, View Pages, Open, Update Personal Web Parts	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control
Update Personal Web Parts	Update Web Parts to display personalized information.	View Items, View Pages, Open	Contribute, Edit, Design, Full Control

On-premises SharePoint Server user permissions and permission levels - SharePoint Server (2024)