Checking permissions and breaking permissions inheritance

The permissions screen is extremely useful to help understand who has access to which content in Atlas. The default Atlas configuration uses workspace-inherited permissions throughout, but any changes to this can cause confusion so it is good to know how to check who has access to each part of the system. Permissions can be broken at the Subsite, List or Library level.

Before following any instructions in this article please ensure you have read at least the Permissions Best Practice section of this article: Managing permissions for Atlas workspaces

Please note that these permissions do not necessarily affect the Membership of any Microsoft Team connected to the Atlas workspace. You can read more about this at the link above.

In this article:

• Check permissions
• Grant permissions to a new group
• Break permissions inheritance for a list or library
• Break permissions inheritance for a single folder or item
  
  

Check permissions

1. To check permissions for a specific Atlas Workspace, navigate to the workspace, then go to the top right settings menu and click on Site permissions:

      

   This will open a panel on the right side of the page. You can expand each permission level here to see the current Owners, Members and Visitors:

      

2. If you need more detail you can click the text Advanced permissions settings at the bottom of the panel. This will take you to the following page:

3. The marked areas are…
   1. Actions in the ribbon such as Grant Permissions, Create Group
   2. Informational warnings
   3. Table of current groups and the permission levels they were granted.
4. To check the permissions of a particular user or group at the current level, click Check Permissions from the ribbon. This will open a dialog where you can enter the name of a user or group. You can start typing to get suggestions:
   
5. Once you have selected the correct user or group, click Check Now. The dialog will return a list of the current permission levels and individual permissions granted to the specified user. Below is an example:
   

   

Grant permissions to a new group

Please note: You should ensure you are in the permissions screen in the correct part of the system before granting access. If you are trying to grant permissions for a specific subsite or library, you need to break the inheritance first by referring to the next section.

To grant permissions to a new group of users that does not already have permissions listed in the table, click Grant Permissions from the ribbon. This will bring up a similar form to the one used for adding users to an existing group:

1. Fill in the name of the SharePoint or Entra ID group you want to add to the workspace. It must already exist in the system otherwise you cannot pick it.
2. Click SHOW OPTIONS to open up all options including whether to send an email.
3. Choose whether or not to send an email to the users being added. Usually we recommend not sending these emails since they cannot be customised, but the option is available. If you use it, add the message in the box above that you want the user to see.
4. Finally, select a permission level. Ensure you select a level such as Read or Contribute, rather than another Group which will be displayed similar to “Atlas Members [Contribute]”. By choosing the level instead you allow permissions for the two groups to be controlled separately. If you add to an existing group such as the Workspace Members then those permissions will be managed together.
5. Click Share to create these permissions for the current site or library.

Break permissions inheritance for a list or library

Please note: Breaking permissions inheritance will prevent any permissions changes in your workspace from being replicated to the lists and libraries within. You can revert back to inheriting at any time, but that will delete your custom permissions.

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want to break the permissions inheritance, then go to Site contents from the top right menu and click the ellipsis (…) next to the list or library you need, then click Settings:
   
2. Now choose Permissions for this document library from the “Permissions and Management” column:
   
3. Both the above routes will take you to a familiar permissions screen. To break the permissions inheritance between the current list or library and the parent workspace, click the Stop Inheriting Permissions button from the ribbon:
   
4. You will receive a warning, which you will need to accept:
   
5. If you accept, the system will break the inheritance and the permissions screen will reload, this time with all the ribbon options active, because you are no longer restricted by the workspace permissions. You will now be able to grant access to your List or Library to specific groups by following the steps further above in this article: Grant permissions to a new group.
   
   

Break permissions inheritance for a single folder or item

Please note: Breaking permissions inheritance for a single item is not recommended unless all other options have been considered first. This action will prevent any permissions changes in your workspace or the lists and libraries within from affecting the specific items on which you break the inheritance. You can revert back to inheriting at any time from the list or library level, but that will delete your custom permissions.

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want to break the permissions inheritance, then go to Site contents from the top right menu and click on the name of the list or library containing your item.
2. Once in the list or library, locate the specific item and right click on it or click the ellipsis (...), then choose Manage Access:
   
3. A panel will load on the right containing the current access information. At the top right of the panel, open the ... menu and click Advanced settings:
   
4. This will take you to the familiar permissions screen. To break the permissions inheritance between the current item and the parent list or library, click the Stop Inheriting Permissions button from the ribbon:
   
5. You will receive a warning, which you will need to accept:
   
6. If you accept, the system will break the inheritance and the permissions screen will reload, this time with all the options available because you are no longer restricted by the parent container's permissions. You will now be able to grant access to your folder or item to specific groups by following the steps further above in this article: Grant permissions to a new group.