SharePoint Online - Update item permissions

Use the SharePoint Online - Update item permissions action A tool for building the processes, logic, and direction within workflows. to set permissions for item(s) in the specified SharePoint Online list.

For example, you can automate access controls for confidential documents using this action. The management would request to add specific permissions whenever a project contract document is added to the SharePoint Online list.

For more information about the SharePoint Online connector, go to SharePoint Online.

Before you begin: 

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Configure the SharePoint Online - Update item permissions action

Important: Before inserting variables in the action configuration, you must manually type or select the values and populate other dependent fields in order to retrieve the output data. Once configured, you can insert variables to the required fields.

  1. Add the action to the workflow and open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add, rename, and copy actions.

  2. Select a SharePoint Online Connection. If you do not have a connection, see Add a connection.

    Note: Only the connections created with the Administration authentication method are available in the drop-down. For more information about authentication methods for SharePoint Online connections, see Authentication methods for SharePoint Online connections.

  3. Type a SharePoint site URL and click Retrieve lists.

  4. Example: https://domain.sharepoint.com/sites/hr

  5. All the lists in the specified site are displayed in the List name drop-down.

  6. Select the List name where you want to update the item.

  7. (Optional) Set conditions for the item(s) for which you want to update permissions.

    Note: For conditions involving columns with multiple values, you need to create conditions for each available value and select And or Or options accordingly.

    1. Click Add condition.

    2. For each condition do the following:

      1. For When, select the column from the selected list.
      2. For Value, type or select the value (click + Insert) to use for the comparison.
      3. Click Save condition. The condition is added to the action.

    3. To configure query behavior for multiple conditions, select all or any.

  1. (Optional) Set permissions for the selected items

    1. (Optional) For Remove existing permissions before update, check if you want to remove any permissions that were previously set.
    2. (Optional) For Inherit permissions from parent, check if you want to the items to inherit permissions from the parent site.
    3. (Optional) Add permission set(s).
      1. Click Add permission set.

      2. For each permission set do the following: 

        1. Select the User or Group to which you want to apply permission to.
        2. Type a name of the user or group.
        3. Select the suitable permission levels. You can also select custom permissions
    4. Select the target items (folders or items in subfolders) to apply the permission to.

SharePoint Online - Update item permissions action fields and settings

Important: Before inserting variables in the action configuration, you must manually type or select the values and populate other dependent fields in order to retrieve the output data. Once configured, you can insert variables to the required fields.

Section Field Description Variable types
(unlabeled)

Connection Credentials and other settings required to pass data between the workflow and the indicated service, which could be a cloud service, business application, or content store.

SharePoint Online connection to access the SharePoint Online site containing the list to be updated.

To refresh the available connections , click .

 (n/a)
Source items

SharePoint site URL

The URL of the SharePoint Online site containing the list containing the item that you want to update.

To retrieve the SharePoint site data, type the SharePoint site URL and click Retrieve lists.

Example: https://domain.sharepoint.com/sites/hr

Boolean, Collection, DateTime, Decimal, Integer, Text
 

List name

The name of the list containing the item(s) that you want to update. The drop-down list is limited to lists within the site specified in SharePoint Online site URL.

Boolean, Collection, DateTime, Decimal, Integer, Text
Conditions Add conditions/Edit conditions

Add conditions to select which items to update. The items that match the conditions are updated with the new permission.

For conditions involving columns with multiple values, you need to create conditions for each available value and select And or Or options accordingly.

Displays the condition builder to define new conditions or edit existing conditions.

  • Add conditions - Displayed when there are no existing conditions specified for the action.

  • Edit conditions - Displayed when there are existing conditions set for the action. You can edit the conditions.

The Condition builder supports nested conditions, enabling you to create conditions within another condition.

(n/a)
Condition builder When

Displays the items from the Column field of the selected list.

Note: 

The following columns are not supported in the Condition builder:

  • Calculated

  • Hyperlink

  • Managed Metadata

  • Multiple lines of text

 Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection
  Operator

How the item from the When drop-down and Value are compared. Select from the drop-down.

The operators available in the drop-down depend on the data type of the item selected from the When drop-down.

 (n/a)
  Value

The value you are expecting in the column (field) specified for When.

The data type of Value must match the data type of the item selected in the When drop-down.

 (varies)
  Add

Adds a new condition. When adding a new condition you have to select the level of the condition.

Select Nested condition to nest the new condition within the condition above it.

(n/a)
  And/Or

The connecting operator to use for the conditions. If you select:

And: The workflow starts when the item that is added matches all the conditions.

Or: The workflow starts when the item that is added matches any one of the conditions.

 (n/a)
  Edit

Displays the following options menu for a condition. The following options are available:

  • Promote: Promotes the condition to a higher level. Promote option is shown if the condition is nested within another condition and allows you to move it to a higher level.

  • Demote: Demotes the condition to a lower level. If you demote a condition it is moved to a lower level making it nested within the condition immediately above it.

  • Delete: Deletes the selected condition.

 (n/a)
Permissions

Remove existing permissions before update

The option to remove previous permissions before updating the target item.

(n/a)
  Inherit permissions from parent

The option to set parent site's permissions to the item(s).

 (n/a)
  Add permission set

Click to add permission set(s).

  • Apply permissions to: Select a user or group.
  • Name: Type the name of the user or group.
  • Permission level: Select the suitable permission levels. You can also select custom permissions
  • Click Delete to delete a permission set.
 (varies)
  Apply permissions update to

The set permissions will be applied to the selected target item (folders/ items in subfolders). The following options are available:

  • Folders: Permissions are applied at the folder level.
  • Items in subfolders: Permissions are applied to the items inside the subfolder(s).
(n/a)
Output Result

Stores the result of the action as an object with the following variables:

  • All permissions updated: Boolean variable to store the result of this action. The following variables are returned:
    • Yes: When all the items' permissions are successfully updated.
    • No: If the permissions are failed to apply on one or more items.
  • Updated item URL(s): Collection variable to store the URL(s) of all the returned items.
  • Updated item ID(s): Collection variable to store the ID(s) of all the returned items.
 Object