Teams-Based SharePoint - Sharing Folders with Non-Members (How do you...?)

[MYK-IT]

Hi,

 

Hoping that someone can give some assistance / advice as to whether this is feasible (or come up with a better solution!)

 

Department [A] has a specific MS Team, with their departmental staff added as members etc. This is all good, and working OK for them etc. However, they now want to issue personalised folder, containing files to each member of staff (outside their department) that:

 

- Assigned Member of Staff can access (e.g. matches their folder / files)

- Department [A] Staff can access (this would be by default anyway due to permissions)

- An assigned SLT Member can access

- Member of Staff's Line Manager can access

- No one else can access

 

On that basis, am I correct in stating that I would have to:

 

- create an initial folder within Department [A]'s Team's SharePoint Site (just to keep all this self-contained, tidy etc!)

- create nested-folders for each and every member of staff

- for each nested-folder, 'Manage Access' by 'sending link' to:

 

Member of Staff

Their Line Manager

Assigned SLT Member

 

And repeat this for the 80 or so members of staff?

 

FOLDER [EXAMPLE PROJECT]

|

- FOLDER [sTAFF 1] {Permissions: Department [A] Staff (Default), Staff 1, Staff 1's Line Manager, SLT Member}

|

FILES

|

- FOLDER [sTAFF 2] {Permissions: Department [A] Staff (Default), Staff 2, Staff 2's Line Manager, SLT Member}

|

|

FILES

 

Basically, we just want staff (and their line manager) to be only able to access their personalised folder containing documents to read/edit them etc, and then Department [A] and SLT Staff Member can easily access and review. Ultimately, without inadvertently opening up access to other staff folders, or indeed the rest of the SharePoint Site.

 

Hope I have made sense, and that those who have used SharePoint move intensely than me, are able to help.

 

Thanks.

[psydii]

I would grant access a slightly different way. The reason I don't recommend the send link option is that it can sometime be a confusing experience and it isn't always clear in the UI who has been granted access to what.

 

That said the process below does send a link by default at the end too.

 

In the individual's folder:

Manage Access->Advanced->Inheritance/Break Inheritance

Now Grant the staff member and their line manager and the SLT Member the access required.

They will be sent a link by default.

[MYK-IT]

Thanks @psydii

 

I agree, blocking inheritance would cover, and stop accidental access to other folders or areas of the SharePoint site.

 

I am sure it could all be scripted too, but by the time I am given the list of staff, associated line managers etc. I could probably do manually. Though, if requested similar again in the future I will investigate doing via PowerShell etc.

[psydii]

Here is something I knocked together for student folders in a SharePoint site, before a MS engineer pointed out that Teams assignments does all this already.

 

You can modify it to suite this task.

 

# Create per user folder in SharePoint Site

 

 

 

$SiteName = "SITENAME"

$Group = "AZUREADGROUPNAME"

$SiteAbsoluteURL = "https://TENANTNAME.sharepoint.com/sites/" + $SiteName

$SiteRelativeURL = "/sites/" + $SiteName

$listname = "DOCUMENTLIBRARY"

$listnameAsRelativeURL = "/" + $listname

$FolderServerRelativeURL = $SiteRelativeURL + $listnameAsRelativeURL

 

connect-azuread

Connect-SPOService https://TENANTNAME-admin.sharepoint.com

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteAbsoluteURL -UseWebLogin

 

 

 

new-pnplist -Title $listname -Template DocumentLibrary -OnQuickLaunch

 

$UserList = (Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString $group|Get-AzureADGroupMember)

foreach ($user in $UserList)

{

#write-host $user.givenname $user.surname

$studentFolderName = $user.givenname + " " + $user.surname

$targetFolder = $FolderServerRelativeURL + "/" + $studentFolderName

Write-Host $studentFolderName

Write-Host $user.UserPrincipalName

Add-PnPFolder -name $studentFolderName -Folder $listnameAsRelativeURL

#write-host "Set-PnPFolderPermission -List"+ $listname +"-Identity " + $targetFolder +"-AddRole edit -User " + $user.UserPrincipalName "-ClearExisting"

Set-PnPFolderPermission -List $listname -Identity $targetFolder -AddRole edit -User $user.UserPrincipalName -ClearExisting

 

 

}