How To Set Item Level Permissions In SharePoint List/Library

In this blog, I am going to describe multiple ways of setting item level permissions in SharePoint lists and libraries. Let's see them one by one.

Using SharePoint Designer
Using OOTB option only for list
Manual process to set the item level permissions

Using SharePoint Designer

In my scenario, I am going to use a custom list with some required columns like Title, Assignee email ID, and SharePoint Group.

How To Set Item Level Permission In SharePoint List / Library

Now, I am creating a workflow to segregate the list item and assign the permissions to the assignee and SharePoint Group.

The "Replace permission level" functionality is still available in 2010 workflow; that's why I am using platform type as 2010 workflow.

Select "Impersonation" step to run the workflow on top of the publisher credential. This Impersonation has been replaced as an APP STEP in 2013 workflow.

Then, start typing replace and hit Enter. The Designer will automatically fetch the required action.

Click these permissions to add the users and user permission level as mentioned in the below image.

Once you have selected the required conditions, click OK and publish the workflow. So, whenever the user creates an item, the workflow will break the inheritance from the parent and set the unique permission as we defined in the workflow steps.

Using OOTB (only for a List item, not for a Library)

There is an inbuilt option in all the custom lists to manage the items uniquely and associate with the item creator. To do this, navigate to Custom List -> List Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Item-level permissions.

Here, you can change the option from “Read all items” to “Read items that were created by the user” and change the option to edit access from “Create and edit all items” to “Create items and edit items that were created by”.

By doing this, the item will be visible only to those who actually created the item and it will get hidden from the rest of the viewers but when you check the list item permissions, it will inherit the permission from the parent.

Manual process to set the item level permissions

The manual process can be followed by the users who have edit permissions in the List/Library when the item is added in the list. The user can click the ellipsis (...) -> click advances -> then shared with.

Then, verify the item name on top of the popup window to make sure that you are doing it for the correct item and then click the "Advanced" option as mentioned in the below image.

Once you click the Advanced option, you will be navigated to the Permissions page and you can see there a message like "This item inherits permision from its parents", which means the item permission is declared on the parent site level .

To break this inhertance, you need to click "Stop Inheriting Permissions" option on the left of the top ribbon.

Once you stop inheriting, the "Stop Inheriting Permissions" button will be replaced with the "Grant Permissions" button. You also get a notification like "The list item has unique permissions", which means this item's permission is broken from the parent site.

So, this unique item will not be visible to all those who actually don't have permissions on it.