Permission & Access Issues

How to Give SharePoint Users Read-Only Access Despite Teams Membership

Maira Mehtab Sep 28, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to restrict certain team members to read-only access for specific SharePoint documents while allowing them to maintain full participation in the associated Microsoft Teams chat.

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Managing document permissions for specific users who are manually added to a Microsoft Teams workspace but should not be allowed to edit SharePoint files.
Observed behavior: Adding a user to the Microsoft Teams member group automatically grants them edit access to documents in the connected SharePoint site, which overrides any specific read-only permissions.

Before you start

Ensure you have Site Owner or Full Control permissions for the SharePoint site before attempting to modify document library permissions and break inheritance.

Solution 1Recommended

Stop Permission Inheritance and Customize Group Access

Use this method to detach the SharePoint document permissions from the default Teams membership, allowing granular control over who can edit or read.

By default, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint are tightly integrated. Members of a Team are automatically added to the SharePoint Members group, granting them Edit permissions. To override this behavior, you must stop permission inheritance on the specific document library or folder and assign permissions manually.

Access Advanced Permissions

Navigate to your SharePoint site, open the Document Library or folder you want to restrict, click the gear icon (Settings), select 'Library settings', and then click 'More library settings'. From there, click 'Permissions for this document library'.

Stop Inheriting Permissions

In the Permissions ribbon at the top, click 'Stop Inheriting Permissions'. This breaks the link with the parent site permissions and allows you to create custom rules for this specific library.

Remove Default Edit Access

Select the default SharePoint Members group (which grants Edit access to all Teams members) by checking the box next to it, then click 'Remove User Permissions' in the ribbon.

Grant Specific Edit Permissions

Click 'Grant Permissions' and assign 'Edit' access exclusively to the specific Microsoft 365 or Entra ID group that actually requires editing capabilities.

Assign Read-Only Access

Click 'Grant Permissions' again, invite the specific users or a separate read-only group, click 'Show options', and explicitly select the 'Read' permission level before sharing.

Verify Permissions: Always test the effective permissions using a non-administrator account or click 'Check Permissions' in the ribbon to ensure the read-only restriction works exactly as intended.

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1. Open your document: Launch WPS Office and open the document, spreadsheet, or presentation you want to share.
2. Click Share: Click the 'Share' button located in the top right corner of the application interface.
3. Set Read-Only Access: In the sharing settings, select 'Anyone with the link can view' to prevent unauthorized edits, then copy and send the link to your team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Teams members automatically get edit access to SharePoint documents?

Microsoft Teams is built upon Microsoft 365 Groups. When you add a user to a Team, they are added to the underlying Microsoft 365 Group, which is inherently linked to the connected SharePoint site's 'Members' group. By default, the Members group has Edit permissions across the entire site.

Can I use dynamic groups for assigning SharePoint folder permissions?

Yes. Once you stop permission inheritance on a library or folder, you can grant access to dynamic Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) groups. This allows you to automatically assign Read or Edit permissions based on user attributes.

Will removing a user from the SharePoint Members group remove them from Teams?

No. If you remove a user or group from the specific SharePoint Members group at the site or library level, it revokes their edit access to those files, but it does not remove them from the associated Microsoft Team chat or workspace.

Document & File Issues