Permission Level

In Microsoft SharePoint, a permission level is a set of permissions that defines what a user can and cannot do with a SharePoint site, list, library, or item. There are several built-in permission levels in SharePoint, such as Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, and View Only, and you can also create custom permission levels if the built-in levels do not meet your needs. 

Each permission level is defined by a set of permissions that grant or restrict access to specific SharePoint features and functions. For example, the Full Control permission level grants the user full control over the site, including the ability to create and delete lists, add and remove users, and change site settings. The Read permission level, on the other hand, grants the user the ability to view and read items in lists and libraries, but not to add or edit items.

You can assign permission levels to users and groups of users to control their access to SharePoint sites, lists, libraries, and items. You can also grant permissions directly to individual users or groups, rather than assigning a permission level, if you want to fine-tune their access.

1. Permission levels are defined at the site collection level, and they can be inherited by sites, lists, libraries, and items within the site collection. This means that you can define a set of permission levels once, and then reuse them across multiple sites, lists, and libraries in your site collection.
2. SharePoint provides several built-in permission levels that you can use to control access to your sites and content. These include:

• Full Control: Grants the user full control over the site, including the ability to create and delete lists, add and remove users, and change site settings.
• Design: Grants the user the ability to customize the look and feel of the site, as well as to create and edit lists and libraries.
• Contribute: Grants the user the ability to create and edit items in lists and libraries, as well as to view and delete items that they have created.
• Read: Grants the user the ability to view and read items in lists and libraries, but not to add or edit items.
• View Only: Grants the user the ability to view items in lists and libraries, but not to add, edit, or delete items.

In addition to the built-in permission levels, you can also create custom permission levels if you need more granular control over user access. To create a custom permission level, you can select a set of permissions from the available permissions in SharePoint and combine them into a single permission level.

Here is an example of how you can use permission levels in a SharePoint site to control access to a list:

1. Navigate to the list or library that you want to manage permissions for, and click the "Gear" icon in the top right corner.
2. Select "Site contents" from the menu.
3. Locate the list or library in the site contents page, and click the "Settings" icon next to it.
4. On the settings page, click the "Permissions" tab.
5. In the "Manage access" section, click the "Shared with" button to view the current permissions for the list.
6. In the "Invite people" dialog, enter the name or email address of the user or group that you want to grant permissions to.
7. Select the desired permission level from the "Send an email invitation" dropdown menu.
8. Click the "Share" button to grant the permissions to the user or group.

This will grant the selected permission level to the user or group for the list. You can repeat these steps to grant permissions to additional users or groups, or to change the permission levels for existing users or groups.

• When you grant permissions to a user or group in SharePoint, the permissions are inherited by all sites, lists, libraries, and items within the site collection, unless the inheritance is broken at a lower level. This means that if you grant a user the Full Control permission level for a site, they will also have Full Control over all lists, libraries, and items within the site, unless the inheritance is broken for a specific list, library, or item.

• You can break the inheritance of permissions at any level in the site hierarchy to give users or groups different permissions at different levels. For example, you can grant a user the Full Control permission level for a site, and then break the inheritance for a specific list or library within the site and give them the Contribute permission level instead. This will allow the user to have Full Control over the site, but only the ability to create and edit items in the specific list or library.

• SharePoint also provides several other ways to control access to sites, lists, libraries, and items, including item-level permissions, unique permissions, and permission inheritance. You can use these features to fine-tune the access control for your SharePoint content and data.

Here is an example of how you might use permission levels in a SharePoint site to control access to a list in a more realistic scenario:

• You are the administrator of a SharePoint site collection that contains a list of customer orders.
• You want to give the sales team the ability to create and edit orders, but you don't want them to be able to delete orders or change the order status.
• You want to give the finance team the ability to view and update the order status, but you don't want them to be able to create or delete orders.

To set up these permissions, you can follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the list of customer orders, and click the "Gear" icon in the top right corner.
2. Select "Site contents" from the menu.
3. Locate the list of customer orders in the site contents page, and click the "Settings" icon next to it.
4. On the settings page, click the "Permissions" tab.
5. In the "Manage access" section, click the "Shared with" button to view the current permissions for the list.
6. In the "Invite people" dialog, enter the name or email address of the sales team group.
7. Select the "Contribute" permission level from the "Send an email invitation" dropdown menu.
8. Click the "Share" button to grant the permissions to the sales team.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 to grant the "Read" permission level to the finance team.

This will give the sales team the ability to create and edit orders, and the finance team the ability to view orders. They will not be able to delete orders or change the order status, as those permissions are not included in the Contribute and Read permission levels.

It is possible to group items in a SharePoint list or library and grant permissions to the group of items as a whole. To do this, you can use the "Check In/Check Out" feature in SharePoint, which allows you to group items together and check them out to a user or group. When an item is checked out, it is locked for editing by other users, and only the user who has checked it out (and site administrators) can edit it.

To group items and grant permissions to a group of items in a SharePoint list or library, you can follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the list or library that you want to group items in, and select the items that you want to group.
2. Click the "Files" tab in the ribbon, and then click the "Check Out" button.
3. In the "Check Out" dialog, select the "Check out to a group" option.
4. In the "Invite people" dialog, enter the name or email address of the user or group that you want to grant permissions to.
5. Select the desired permission level from the "Send an email invitation" dropdown menu.
6. Click the "Share" button to grant the permissions to the user or group.

This will check out the selected items to the user or group, and grant them the selected permission level for the items. When the user or group is finished editing the items, they can check them back in, which will release the lock and make the items available for editing by other users again.

you can group items in a SharePoint list by using the "Group By" feature in the list view. This allows you to organize the items in the list into groups based on a specific field or set of fields, such as the "Category" field or the "Status" and "Priority" fields.

To group items in a SharePoint list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the list that you want to group items in.
2. Click the "List" tab in the ribbon, and then click the "Group By" button.
3. In the "Group By" dialog, select the field or fields that you want to group the items by. You can select multiple fields to create nested groups.
4. Click the "OK" button to apply the grouping.

This will group the items in the list based on the selected field or fields. You can expand or collapse the groups to view the items within them, and you can also reorder the groups by dragging and dropping them into the desired position.

Keep in mind that grouping items in a list is purely a visual organization tool and does not affect the underlying data or permissions in any way. To control access to specific items in a list or library, you can use the item-level permissions or "Check In/Check Out" features as I mentioned in previous responses.