Sharepoint - Office 365 Education

[Dushan996]

We need to store a few sets of shared files in a central location. We thought of using the Site concept in SharePoint so that we could use the document library creating different folders/files for different groups. 

We thought of creating groups such as Group A, Group B, Group C using the Office 365 admin panel.

And then create a Site in Sharepoint giving read/edit access to individual groups for different files and folders in the document library.

For instance, Group A should be able to access and edit files in Folder X while preventing Group B to edit and Group C to access. Also files in some folders are read only for all the members except for admins. Also members should be able to download non-editable documents and edit them using stand-alone apps.

Please, if someone could answer these few queries, that would be great.

1.Is it possible to do this with this approach - using groups created in Office 365 admin panel to configure different access levels for a single document library containing in a single Site? Or if it is not possible to have multiple groups on one site, should we create a Site per group?

2. After adding all three groups as members, can we still grant/deny read/edit access to certain folders in the document library for individual groups?

3. I've heard something called SharePoint Hub. What is this and how it differs from SharePoint , will the Hub platform be better for our usecase? 

4. Is there a better way to achieve this using the Office 365 for Education platform? 

Thank you in advance!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Dushan996,

1) Yes, it is possible to use groups created in the Office 365 admin panel to configure different access levels for a single document library within a SharePoint site. You can create SharePoint groups within the site and add the corresponding Office 365 groups to those SharePoint groups. This way, you can assign different permissions to each SharePoint group, controlling access to specific folders/files within the document library. Creating a separate site per group may not be necessary in this case, as you can manage access within a single site using SharePoint groups.

2) Once you have added the three groups as members to the SharePoint site, you can grant/deny read/edit access to certain folders in the document library for individual groups. SharePoint provides granular control over permissions, allowing you to set permissions at the folder level within a document library. You can customize permissions for each folder, specifying which groups have read or edit access to them.

3) SharePoint Hub is a feature within SharePoint Online that allows you to organize and connect multiple SharePoint sites together. It provides centralized navigation, branding, and content roll-up across associated sites. A SharePoint Hub site acts as a central hub that brings together related sites, which can be associated with a common theme or purpose. In your case, if you have multiple SharePoint sites for different groups, you can consider using a SharePoint Hub to connect and manage those sites more efficiently. However, for your specific use case of managing access to folders/files within a single site, a SharePoint Hub may not be necessary.

4) The approach you described using SharePoint sites and groups is a common and effective way to manage access to shared files in the Office 365 for Education platform. It provides the flexibility to assign permissions at the folder level and control access for different groups. The Office 365 for Education platform, including SharePoint, offers various collaboration and communication features that can support your requirements for storing and sharing files among different groups.

Kindest regards

[#3]

Hi @LeonPavesic,

Thank you so very much for taking your time to provide a detailed answer promptly and for clarifying all the scenarios I had mentioned. This is very helpful and now I have a clear direction to proceed with.

I will get back in case I ran into any issues while doing this.

Thank you ever so much @Leon!

[#4]

Hi @LeonPavesic,

I'm in the process of configuring my site. However, I'm unable to add a permission level to a group to allow editing documents without adding/uploading (also should prevent deleting).

From the available permission levels Full Control, Design, Edit, Contribute, Read, Restricted View, the first for allows them to add/upload files. So I'm unable to select a permission level which only allows editing a file without uploading/deleting files. I even tried to create a custom permission level by granting only edit access, but this allows uploading as well. So it looks like on SharePoint, if you can edit, you can upload as well.
A workaround could be to restrict access at folder level (read only) and grant edit access at file level. But this complicates the scenario adding more configuration work whenever we add new files to the library. If there is a way to define a permission level which allows users in that particular group to edit files in a folder without uploading/deleting, that would be great!
Any thoughts?
Thank you in advance!

[#5]

Hi @Dushan996,

Unfortunately (for us) SharePoint doesn't have a built-in permission level that allows users to edit files in a folder without the ability to upload or delete files. However, you can achieve a similar result by following these steps:

1. Assign the "Edit" permission level to the group that should be able to edit files.
2. Go to the document library in SharePoint.
3. Find the specific folder where you want to restrict upload and delete actions.
4. Remove the permissions for the group to "Add Items" and "Delete Items" in the folder's permission settings.
5. Save the changes.

By removing the ability to add and delete items at the folder level, users in that group will only be able to edit existing files within the folder without the option to upload or delete files. 

Kindest regards

Leon Pavesic