Guest Author: Peter Allen
BitsOfSharePoint

I have deployed this solution with several clients and in doing so have added some functionality.  One of those areas is Permissions.  If you have not read my previous posts on this topic please check them out:

 

 

• Article I – SharePoint – A Global Navigation Solution across Site Collections
• Article II – SharePoint – A Global Navigation Solution Across Site Collections – Version 2.0 Primer and Deployment
• Articles III – SharePoint – A Global Navigation Solution across Site Collections – Version 2.0 Solution

Permission can be added to version 1.0 or 2.0 and there is no difference in how it is implemented.  Actually it is very simple since we will use out of the box features to accomplish this.  We will have the ability to apply permissions to a Tab and/or to a pull down item.

To apply permissions so that a tab or pull down item is only viewable to a specific audience we will use SharePoint’s feature of specify permissions at the item level.  Now this is known in the SharePoint community as not a best practice, but I believe in this case it is an exception to the rule that works well for its purpose.  I preach to my clients not to break permissions and not to break them at the item level, so when I tell them that we have to do this for this solution they say to me, but you told us not to do that.  There are exceptions to every rule and here is one.

Implementing this solution is simple.  For each tab or pull down item you will change the Manage Permissions settings to Edit Permission.  At this point you can now add and delete groups that should have access to this item.  (Caution:  Do not delete the group that gives you permission to edit the item.  If you do then you will have to ask the Admin to add you back to edit the item.  I know form experience.)

Here is a step by step on how to do this.

Step 1

Select the item to apply permissions to and select Manage Permissions.

Step 2

You will then break the inheritance of permissions by selecting Actions and then Edit Permissions.

Step 3

You will get a warning that you are breaking permissions.  Select Yes to this warning.

Step 4

Next select New so that you can add the groups or people that need to have access.

Step 5

Add the groups or people that should have access and set the user permission to read only.

That is it and now the tab or pull down will only show up if the person has permissions to view it.

Depending on how SharePoint permissions are setup in your environment this can be easy or complicated.  What do I mean by this?  Well an environment that uses Active Directory groups will have a much easier time with this than an environment that directly adds users to the three standard permissions groups for a site.  Since this solution does not pull permissions based on the location of the link in the pull down, you have to maintain permissions on your site as well as here.  IF you do this through AD groups then it is much easier as you add the same AD groups to the item and you will only need to update the AD group to change who can see the item.

Hope this helps.

Guest Author: Peter Allen
BitsOfSharePoint

Peter Allen is President of BitsOfSharePoint Consulting LLC, based in Sacramento, CA. He has worked in the technology field for 15 years creating and deploying solutions in Healthcare, financial, construction, municipalities, telecom, and engineering firms.  He provides solutions that address site architecture, taxonomy, useability and findability.  He also speaks at SharePoint community events and blogs at his SharePoint site http://www.bitsofsharepoint.com.