Have you ever wondered how you restrict users from editing documents in Microsoft Teams?
Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic Microsoft Teams usage has grown by 70% to 44 million daily users. So, with such a popular tool there is no wonder that people have started to ask.
How do I restrict access to documents in my Microsoft Teams?
This article provides you with a step-by-step guide on how you can restrict access to your files within your Microsoft Team.
Background:
Microsoft has designed the Teams App as a collaboration tool for end users to communicate and collaborate on content as a team no matter where the user is located. Reducing the need for employees to travel to meetings and therefore increasing the effectivity of the company’s workforce. Standard Microsoft Teams functionality means when whenever a user adds a member to their Team, they are automatically given access to edit and contribute to content within the Microsoft Teams App.
However,
It is possible as the Owner of the Team to restrict the ability of members within a group from editing documents. As you may well know, Microsoft Teams is built on several familiar Microsoft technologies one of which is SharePoint. Those of you who have worked with Microsoft SharePoint in the past you have more than likely come across the 3 standard security groups found in SharePoint, (Site Owners, Site Members and Site Visitors). These standard 3 security groups provide the ability to restrict edit access to documents within SharePoint. By leveraging SharePoint security, we can restrict access to documents within the Microsoft Teams App.
STEPS TO RESTRICTING DOCUMENT EDIT ACCESS TO ALL MEMEBERS OF THE TEAM
The following steps provide details on how you can restrict edit access to documents within you Teams Site. (These steps can be carried out via the Teams Web Interface or the client.) This can be applied to all the Microsoft Teams members or more granularly via a more manual process.
1. Open your Microsoft Teams client and click the Teams Tab on the left-hand menu.
2. Click the Files tab on the top menu bar
3. Click the Open in SharePoint button to open the General folders Document library within SharePoint.
4. Click the settings icon in the top right-hand corner of your screen and click Site permissions.
5. On the Permissions window you will find the 3 SharePoint Security Groups we mentioned earlier. If you wish to removed edit access to all of your users on Teams site, you will need to change the permissions for the Teams Group and add them to the Site Visitors group instead. Click Site members to expand the group.
6. Below the <TeamsName> Members group click Edit and select Read from the dropdown list.
7. The <TeamsName> Members group will now appear under the Site visitors SharePoint Group as shown below. All users that previously had member access to the documents on your Teams site now have Read only access to those documents.
8. In the Microsoft Teams App users will be able to see which documents they have Read only access to via an icon that appears next to the document/folders in Teams
RESTRICTING DOCUMENT EDIT ACCESS TO INDIVIDUAL MEMEBERS OF THE TEAMS SITE.
It is also possible to restrict access to individual Microsoft Teams users however this requires some additional administration of permissions within the Microsoft SharePoint Document Library that Teams uses.
If you require assistance with Security and Governance surrounding Microsoft Office 365 please feel to Contact Us at https://mindcore.dk.
