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In SharePoint sites, SharePoint Foundation 2010, permission levels are managed only at the site collection level – that is, at the top-level site in your site hierarchy.
In this article
Do you have to customize permission levels?
If you make a change to a permission level, you need to keep in mind that it will affect all the users and groups at that permission level. This might change your site security or even affect your site’s performance.
Security and permission levels
For example, you might customize the Contribute permission level so that includes a permission that usually is only in the Full Control Permission level.
If you customize the Contribute permission level to include the Create Sub-sites permission, then Contributors can create and own sub-sites. However, this potentially invites malicious users to post unapproved content.
Performance and permission levels
In addition, changes to permission levels can actually affect the performance of your site. For example, if you add the Create Alerts permission to the Read permission level, all members of the Visitors group can create alerts, which might overload your servers.
Edit an existing permission level, or create a new one?
Here are several examples of situations when it might be useful to change an existing permission level:
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A default permission level includes all permissions except one that users must have to do their jobs, and you want to add that permission.
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A default permission level includes a permission that users do not need. For example, you might want people to be able to read and edit items in a list, but not to delete items from that list. You might start with the Contribute permission level, and then remove the “Delete List Item” permission to create a new permission level.
You might want to create new permission levels if one or more of the following situations applies:
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You want to exclude several permissions from a particular permission level.
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You want to define a unique set of permissions.
Open the permission levels page
To change permission levels, you first open the Permission Levels page.
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On the top-level Web site of the site collection, click the Site Actions menu, and then click Site Settings.
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On the settings page, in the Users and Permissions section, click Site Permissions.
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On the Edit tab, click Permission Levels.
Create a permission level
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On the Permission Levels page, click Add a Permission Level.
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On the Add a Permission Level page, in the Name and Description section, type a name and optionally a description.
Select the check boxes for the permissions that you want to associate with this permission level, and then click Create.
Copy a permission level
On the Permission Levels page, click the name of the permission level that you want to copy.
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Scroll to the bottom of the Edit Permission Level page, and then click Copy Permission Level.
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In the Permission Level Name and Description section, type the name and optionally a description for the new permission level.
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Click Create.
The new permission level appears on the Permission Levels page.
Edit a permission level
Use these steps to change any custom permission levels or any of the default permission levels other than Full Control or Limited Access.
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On the Permission Levels page, click the name of the permission level that you want to edit. The Edit Permission Level page opens, where you can make the following changes:
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Change the description of the permission level.
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Select the check boxes for the permissions that you want associated with this permission level.
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Clear the check boxes for the permissions that you do not want associated with this permission level.
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After you have made you changes, click Submit.
Delete a permission level
Use these steps to delete custom permission levels or any of the default permission levels other than Full Control or Restricted Read. Full Control and Restricted Read cannot be deleted.
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On the Permission Levels page, select the check boxes for the permission levels that you want to delete, and then click Delete Selected Permission Levels.
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Click OK.
Assign a new permission level to a group
After you create a permission level, you can assign it to groups or users.
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On the top-level Web site of the site collection, click the Site Actions menu, and then click Site Permissions.
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Select the check box next to the person or group that you want to assign the new permission level to.
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Click the Edit User Permissions button.
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In the Edit Permissions dialog box, check the name of the new permission level, and then click OK.
