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Untangling SharePoint’s Permissions Chaos

  • jfhere
  • Sep 15
  • 3 min read

One of the most common headaches in any SharePoint environment is permissions. Step into a mature deployment—whether it’s SharePoint Online or a farm running 2016/2019—and you’ll quickly realize how tangled things can become.


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Over the years, I’ve walked into environments where permissions were applied at every imaginable level: site collections, subsites, lists, libraries, folders, and even individual items. Add in well-intentioned but inconsistent practices—like granting direct user access instead of using groups—and suddenly you have a permissions landscape that no one fully understands.





The impact is real:

  • Users are confused about why they can’t access something they believe they should.

  • Business units create “shadow sites” to bypass roadblocks.

  • Security teams worry about oversharing sensitive data.

  • Administrators spend hours chasing down why a certain person can’t see a file or why a sensitive library is suddenly visible to far too many people.


Why Permissions Get Out of Hand

A few consistent patterns show up regardless of whether you’re dealing with SharePoint Server or Microsoft 365:

  • Broken inheritance everywhere: Breaking inheritance has its place, but when it happens at multiple layers (library, folder, item), auditing or maintaining permissions becomes nearly impossible Microsoft Learn, Understand Permission Levels in SharePoint.

  • Direct user permissions instead of groups: SharePoint thrives on group-based security. Adding individuals directly may solve an immediate problem, but it creates long-term sprawl Microsoft Learn, Plan permissions in SharePoint.

  • Orphaned and abandoned sites: Sites without clear ownership often linger with outdated permissions, creating security and compliance risks.

  • Lack of visibility: SharePoint’s native interfaces—whether Central Administration, Admin Center, or PowerShell—don’t make it easy to visualize permissions holistically. Admins are left running ad hoc scripts or clicking through endless settings pages Microsoft Docs, Check user permissions.


Best Practices That Help (But Rarely Solve It All)

There are established ways to rein in permission chaos, and they apply across environments:

  • Standardize governance: Define where inheritance should remain intact and where exceptions are allowed.

  • Favor groups over individuals: Manage access through SharePoint groups or AD/M365 groups for sustainability.

  • Review permissions regularly: Conduct periodic audits of access reports, whether through usage analytics, Admin Center, or PowerShell exports.

  • Reinforce ownership: Assign and confirm site owners who are accountable for keeping permissions in check.


These practices work, but in reality, they’re hard to maintain without full visibility into the entire environment.


How the Commander Tool Cuts Through the Noise

This is where the Commander Tool changes the game. Instead of piecing together reports or interpreting cryptic PowerShell outputs, Commander gives administrators and knowledge managers a unified, real-time view of permissions across all sites.


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With Commander, you can:

  • Instantly identify where inheritance is broken and at what level.

  • See which users have direct access versus group-based permissions.

  • Highlight abandoned or underused sites with lingering permissions.

  • Provide actionable, visual reports to site owners so they can clean up confidently.


In practice, this means:

  • Fewer “Why can’t I get in?” tickets.

  • Fewer “Who gave them access?” surprises.

  • A stronger overall security posture for your SharePoint environment.


Whether your organization is cloud-first or still maintaining on-premises farms, Commander simplifies what has historically been one of SharePoint’s biggest pain points, making permissions management transparent, actionable, and sustainable.


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