Forum Discussion
How are people keeping manager notes private in Teams without creating a mess of separate files?
We’re trying to get managers to keep better notes from 1:1s, performance conversations, development discussions, etc., but the privacy side gets messy pretty quickly.
If everything goes into OneNote, Loop, or Word docs, managers end up with a bunch of separate files and folders for different employees. If they keep notes in Teams chats or meeting notes, it becomes harder to control what’s private, what’s shared with the employee, and what HR should actually be able to see.
Has anyone found a clean setup in Microsoft 365 where managers can keep private employee notes without turning SharePoint/OneDrive into a filing cabinet?
1 Reply
You need a clear boundary between a manager’s private working notes, employee-shared notes, and material HR should access. Putting everything into one shared notebook does not provide that boundary: OneNote sharing applies to the notebook, and a section link does not restrict recipients to that section. A practical design is a dedicated, restricted SharePoint library for management records, with permissions assigned at a deliberately chosen library or folder boundary. Keep employee-shared material in a separate location rather than mixing it with private notes. Use a consistent template and metadata, such as employee identifier and review date, to reduce scattered documents. Before rollout, test access with manager, employee, and HR test accounts, including existing sharing links. Agree ownership, retention, and manager-handover rules with your administrators. This is an access-design recommendation, not a built-in Teams feature that automatically classifies private notes.
