Forum Discussion
Allowing users to create files that are only visible to them
Hello
I'm using SharePoint on a Microsoft 365 business subscription, and I have the following requirement:
I want users to be able to create files inside a collection that can only be viewed/edited by them, but not by other users.
Now, If I am a site admin or collection owner this is easy, I can just right click on the file -> manage access -> groups, then remove access to "group members" and "group visitors", so only admins and the file owner can see it.
However, the problem is that normal site members cannot do this: they cannot remove the permission to members/visitors to view the file, the option is grayed out.
What is the correct way to achieve this in SharePoint?
- What you are describing is OneDrive for business. If the user is the only one allowed to see the file, why would you want them to create it an actual site and then go through all the trouble of having them restrict permissions and hide it? If they create the file in their own personal OneDrive then it is instantly locked down to just the user that created the file....just a thought. Good luck!
Thanks for your input. My use case is that I need all users to be able to upload documents to the same shared folder, that is then accessed by managers that are collection admins and can see all the documents of the various users in one place. But the normal users cannot be allowed to see each other's documents. Can you tell me if there is a best approach for such scenario?
Thanks again for your help.
- I understand. You could use Power Automate to change the permissions of the file as soon as it uploaded to only be visible to the user and their manager. Again...that methodology always seems like overkill to me...SharePoint sites are really meant as spaces where more than just a handful of folks can access something. That again leads me back to OneDrive. The user should create a folder within OneDrive and then share that folder with the 1 or 2 people who need to be able to see these files. Then the user adds files to the folder in OneDrive and shares a link with the manager each time they add a new file. Just my humble opinion
