Sharepoint 2013 limited access

Question

quick question - we have a bunch of libraries from A to Z with broken permissions and dedicated SP groups to them only. The only issue we've got is with one particular library - all the other groups from the other libraries have Limited Access to that particular library, even though it was all done in the same way. Any ideas? We actually thought that it was maybe created the last so the inheritance was broken after all the other groups were created from the site level but I don't think that's the issue here.

Thx in advance! Pete

Answer 1

After you broke the permissions on list/library it automatically inherits all the permissions from its parent. That is your SharePoint Site.

So, before creating last library, all the groups you created were having limited access on site.

That's why when you broke the permissions on that library it inherited all the permissions from site and granted limited access permission on the library for all groups.

Answer 2

When you share any item with an user by breaking inheritance and giving unique permissions on it, the “Limited Access” permission level is automatically assigned to the user on the shared item's parent folder/library/site. The limited access permission is provided so that the user can easily access the item by browsing to the parent folder/library without having to browse the direct URL of the item.

If the limited access permission was not granted automatically by SharePoint, the user would get an Access Denied error when try to browse the library or parent folder since the user does not have “Open” permission on the folder. Even though the user has permissions to the document, they do not have permission on the containing folder. Hence they would need permission on the parent folder/library/site as well.

There is a feature "Limited-access user permission lockdown mode" which controls the granting of Limited Access permission by SharePoint. When this feature is enabled, permissions for users with “limited access” permissions, such as Anonymous Users, are reduced, preventing access to Application pages including item properties or list views.

Related articles:

• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640.aspx
• http://corypeters.net/2010/04/sharepoint-limited-access-what-is-it/
• https://paulgalvinsoldblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/what-is-limited-access-anyway/