Sharing a Site
Each SharePoint site you own or are a part of is completely separate from all other sites. Sites don’t overlap and have distinct permissions and content. When you create or upload documents, notebooks, and other content to SharePoint, you will choose a site that you are part of that content should be created in or uploaded to.
You cannot share SharePoint sites with users outside of Tufts University.
Instead of sharing the whole site, you can instead only share specific files and folders.
Be careful about what privileges you give and who you give them to! This is particularly important for sensitive information. Since users with site members and owner permissions can see all contents of your site, Tufts recommends giving the fewest privileges necessary and only to people for whom it is necessary.
All members of a team site can contribute, view, and edit all content.
- If your SharePoint site was created through Microsoft Teams and is available to all channels in the Team (this is the most common):
- Team owners and members are automatically included in the site owners and members permission groups.
- If your SharePoint site was created through Microsoft Teams and is private to a specific channel:
- Permission management must be done in Teams. Permissions in SharePoint can't be managed separately and will display in read-only mode.
- Channel owners become sites owners in SharePoint and channel members become site members.
- If your SharePoint site was created in SharePoint and not directly from Microsoft Teams:
- By default, you are the only owner and member of a SharePoint site that you create – you are the only person that can see and edit your site and the site contents.
If your SharePoint site was created through Microsoft Teams and is available to all channels in the Team, sharing the site separately is possible, but managing access through Teams is recommended for easiest user management and the best user experience.
If your SharePoint site was created through Microsoft Teams and is private to a specific channel, permission management must be done in Teams.
See Working with Teams and Channels for steps to add or remove users from a Team or channel.
By default, you are the only owner and member of a SharePoint site that you create – you are the only person that can see and edit your site and the site contents. SharePoint supports many ways for you to control who has access to your site and site content.
When you add a person to your site, you can choose their permission level. The three permission levels for sites are owner, member, and visitor.
Permission Level |
Permissions Summary |
Permission Specifics |
Owner |
Full control of your site |
People who should have the same level of access and permissions as you. They have full control of all site content (like a member) but can also change the site’s appearance, permission settings, and site settings |
Member |
Edit and contribute |
People whom you want to be able to edit site content. Site members can edit and view all site content, including files and pages. |
Visitor |
Read only |
People whom you want to see site content but not edit it. |
Normally with communication sites, you'll have one or more owners, a relatively small number of members who create the content for the site, and a large number of visitors who are the people you're sharing information with.
- From any page in your site, click the Site Access button in the top right.
- A sharing panel appears on the right.
- To share your site with everyone at Tufts:
- In the add users field at the top, type in "Everyone except external users". When this autopopulates, click it.
- Importantly, uncheck Send Email.
- Click Share.
- In the add users field at the top, type in "Everyone except external users". When this autopopulates, click it.
- To share your site with specific users:
- In the add users field at the top, type in the name of the person you want to share the site with. SharePoint will suggest names from the Tufts Directory as you type. Click on the person you want to invite. Repeat as necessary.
- By default, users will be granted read only access. To change this, click the word Read under the user’s name.
- Choose this person’s permission level from the dropdown menu.
- Check whether to send the newly invited users a personalized Email, and if so, enter a message (optional).
- In the add users field at the top, type in the name of the person you want to share the site with. SharePoint will suggest names from the Tufts Directory as you type. Click on the person you want to invite. Repeat as necessary.
- From any page in your site, click the Site Access button in the top right.
- A sharing panel appears on the right. You can expand each permission section to view the site members with that permission level.
- Underneath the name of the person that you’d like to change permissions for or remove, click their current permission level.
- Choose the person’s new permission level, or choose Remove to remove this person completely as a member of the site.
- This permission change autosaves. You’re done!