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VictorShinto01's avatar
VictorShinto01
Copper Contributor
Mar 20, 2026

How to prevent SharePoint “Members” from approving documents?

Hi everyone,

I’m facing an issue with the Content Approvals  Teams feature in a SharePoint document library.

I noticed that a user who is only a Member of the SharePoint site was able to approve a document, even though they should not have permissions to do so. The approval went through successfully, which is not the expected behavior.

I would like to block site Members from approving documents and ensure that only a designated approver (or a specific approvers group) can approve items.

I have already checked the Content Approval settings and Versioning Settings, but I’m not sure what I’m missing in the permissions configuration.

My question:

What is the correct way to configure the library or site permissions so that Members cannot approve documents?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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1 Reply

  • Surya_Narayana's avatar
    Surya_Narayana
    MCT
    Mar 22, 2026

    hi VictorShinto01​  What usually controls this is the Approve Items permission, not just whether someone is a “Member” of the site.

    In SharePoint, if site Members are able to approve documents, it typically means their effective permission level on that library includes Approve Items somewhere either through the default group/permission setup, a custom permission level, or broken inheritance on the library. SharePoint’s approval capability is tied to approver permissions, and Microsoft’s guidance also points to approvers being in a higher permission group rather than ordinary members.

    What I’d recommend:

    Check the library permissions, not just the site permissions.

    Verify whether the Members group (or any group the user belongs to) has a permission level that includes Approve Items.

    If needed, break permission inheritance on the library and grant:

    Members = Edit/Contribute only, without Approve Items

    Approvers group = Approve (or Design / custom level with Approve Items)

    If you want tighter control, create a separate approvers group and only assign approval rights there. Microsoft examples for approval flows also call out using a more elevated permission group for approvers.