Permission & Access Issues

SharePoint Permissions When Creating a Team for an Existing Site

Maira Mehtab Sep 24, 2026 869 views

Question details

An administrator needs to know if creating a Microsoft Team for an already established SharePoint site will alter existing user, group, library, or folder permissions and grant unintended access.

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Creating a Microsoft Team for an existing SharePoint site that contains unique permissions and user groups.
Observed behavior: The administrator wants to ensure existing permissions remain intact and no unintended access is granted to new Team members upon integration.

Before you start

Verify that you have Site Owner or SharePoint Administrator privileges before initiating the Microsoft Teams integration for the existing site.

Solution 1Recommended

Understand and Verify Permissions After Creating a Team

Creating a Team does not overwrite your existing SharePoint permissions, but you should verify the new folder automatically created by Teams.

When you create a Microsoft Team for an established SharePoint site, it does not change the existing site, library, folder, or file permissions. Your unique item-level permissions remain completely intact.

However, Microsoft Teams will automatically create a 'General' folder under your Shared Documents library. This new folder inherits the permissions of its parent document library.

Create the Team

Proceed with creating the Microsoft Team from your existing SharePoint site interface.

Locate the new folder

Navigate to your SharePoint site contents, open the 'Shared Documents' library, and look for the newly generated 'General' folder.

Verify folder permissions

Select the 'General' folder, click on the 'Manage Access' or 'Details' pane, and review the inherited permissions to ensure they meet your organization's security requirements.

Permission Inheritance: Because the 'General' folder inherits permissions from the Shared Documents library, any user with access to that main library will automatically have access to the General folder unless you manually restrict it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Will creating a Team delete any existing SharePoint files?

No, creating a Microsoft Team for an existing SharePoint site will not delete, move, or modify any of your existing files or folders.

Can I restrict access to the new General folder created by Teams?

Yes. By default, the General folder inherits permissions from the Shared Documents library, but you can manually stop inheriting permissions and set unique access limits for it via the Manage Access panel.

Are my unique item-level permissions preserved during the Team integration?

Yes, any unique permissions you have previously configured for specific libraries, folders, or individual files will remain completely unchanged when the Team is connected.

Who becomes the owner of the new Team?

Typically, the SharePoint site owners are automatically added as Team owners, and site members become Team members. You can always adjust these roles later within the Microsoft Teams management settings.

Document & File Issues