SharePoint: Create and use access groups

NOTICE: These instructions are from before we started deploying Microsoft Teams.  Microsoft Teams and the Private Channels within them make a complex task (like below in regular SharePoint) far easier.  As such - this is no longer recommended.  If you have a SharePoint site and need to do this - please reach out to ITS and we will help move you to Teams and show you how to use and manage private channels.

If you have a SharePoint site that you need further restrictions on (for example, you have a folder that you want only some people in the group to be able to edit or view) this is what you need to do:

Creating Access Groups

First - you will want to create an access group.  This is so you don't have to share with individual members (especially if you want to use this access group for multiple folders. To do so:

1. Go to your SharePoint site and click the settings icon (it looks like a gear) at the top right.
2. Click Site permissions then Advanced permissions settings at the bottom.
3. Click Create Group at the top
4. In the Create Group window:
   • give this group a name
   • Set the group owner (if not yourself)
   • Unless you have special needs - just click "Create" at the bottom right.
5. Click the New button and choose Add users to this group
6. Enter one or more names or email addresses of those to add to the group
7. Optionally: Click SHOW OPTIONS at the bottom and uncheck Send an email invitation (this is useful if you're still setting things up so people aren't confused as to what this is for).
8. Click Share when done.

Updating Access Groups

To update the group later (to add or remove members):

1. Go to your SharePoint site and click the settings icon (it looks like a gear) at the top right.
2. Click Site permissions then Advanced permissions settings at the bottom.
3. Click Show users in the yellow message bar
4. Go to the appropriate group
5. To add members - click the New button and then add one or more members.
6. To remove members - click the check box next to anyone you want to remove then Actions -> Remove Users from Group

Restricting access to a folder using an access group

Once you have one or more access groups created - you can use them to control access.

1. Open an existing folder (or create a new folder) in SharePoint
2. Click the icon at the top right that looks like a lower case letter i in a circle.
3. Click Manage Access
4. If you want to only grant access (for example) to your new access group and the owners of the group - do the following:
   • Click the down arrow next to "<Site Name> Visitors" (note - if it's a long group name - you may not see the whole name unless you hover over it).  
   • Click Stop Sharing
   • Repeat the previous two steps for the "<Site Name> Members" group
   • Click Advanced at the bottom
   • Click the Grant Permissions icon near the top left
   • Enter the name of the access group that you created
   • Optionally:
     • Click SHOW OPTIONS at the bottom and uncheck Send an email invitation (this is useful if you're still setting things up so people aren't confused as to what this is for).
     • Also within "SHOW OPTIONS" - you can change the permission level (it defaults to "Edit" so if you want to give someone read-only permission you can change it to Read.
   • Click Share when done.