A Basic Guide to User and Group Management in SharePoint Online

Some of the questions we get asked the most here at Dock 365 relate back to how to manage users and groups in SharePoint Online. To help answer some of those questions, we put together this basic guide for users to refer back to. With that said, let's take a look at basic user management in SharePoint Online.

Content- 

• How to Add Users in SharePoint Online

• How to Delete Users in SharePoint Online

• How to Add Properties to User Profiles in SharePoint Online

• How to Edit or Delete User Properties in SharePoint Online

• How to Add and Remove Admins for a User's OneDrive

• How to Disable OneDrive Creation for Some Users In SharePoint Online

• How to Create a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Add Users to a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Remove Users From a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Grant Site Access to a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Delete a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Assign a New Permission Level to a Group in SharePoint Online

• How to Add, Change, or Remove a Site Collection Administrator in SharePoint Online

How to Add Users in SharePoint Online

1. In your site, click Site Contents, and then click Settings.
2. Under Users and Permissions, click People and groups.
3. On the left, select the group to which you'd like to add the users.
4. Click the drop-down arrow next to New, and then select Add Users.
5. In the box Enter names, email addresses or "Everyone", type the name, username, or email address of the user and select them from the search box that appears.
6. Include a personal message if desired, and click Show Options to choose whether to send an email invitation.
7. When you're finished, click Share.

How to Delete Users in SharePoint Online

1. In your site, click Site Contents, and then click Settings.
2. Under Users and Permissions, click People and groups.
3. On the left, select the group from which you'd like to remove the users.
4. Use the checkboxes to select the users you want to delete.
5. Click Actions, and then select Remove Users from Group.
6. Click OK to confirm the deletion.

How to Add Properties to User Profiles in SharePoint Online

User properties are information about users including language, date of birth, hire date, and more.

1. Under User profiles, select Open.
2. Under People, select Manage User Properties.
3. Select New Property.
4. In the Name box, enter a unique name for the property.
5. In the Display Name box, enter the profile property name that will be displayed to all users. (This name doesn't have to be unique.)
6. In the Type list, select the data type for the property.
7. If you selected binary, HTML, or string, use the Length box to enter the maximum number of characters allowed for property values.
8. If you selected string and want to associate the profile property with a managed metadata term set, select Configure a Term Set to be used for this property. Then select a term set from the list.
9. Make sure Default User Profile Subtype is selected so the default user profile subtype is associated with this user profile property.
10. In the Description box, enter the instructions or information that is displayed to users about this profile property.
11. In the Policy Settings section, select the policy setting and default privacy setting that you want for this property. Select the User can override box to enable users to override these settings.
12. If you want users to be able to change this profile information for themselves, select Allow users to edit values for this property.
13. In the Display Settings section, specify whether and how the property will be viewed by users.
14. In the Search Settings section, select Alias if the property is the equivalent of a user's name. For example, you might do this if you create a property for a "Stage name" and want searches for all documents by John Kane to return the same results as searches for the user's real name. Select the Indexed if you want searches to return all the user profiles matching that property. For example, if you have a property for "University," a search for that value would return all alumni from that university.
15. Select OK.

How to Edit or Delete User Properties in SharePoint Online

1. Select User profiles, and then select Open. Under People, choose Manage User Properties.
2. In the Property Name column, select the profile property that you want to change, and then select Edit or Delete.
3. Edit the elements you want to change.
4. When you're done, select OK.

How to Add and Remove Admins for a User's OneDrive

1. Under User profiles, select Open.
2. Under People, select Manage User Profiles.
3. Enter the user's name and select Find.
4. Right-click the user, and then select Manage site collection owners.
5. Add and remove admins for the OneDrive, and then select OK.

How to Disable OneDrive Creation for Some Users In SharePoint Online

1. Under User profiles, select Open.
2. Under People, select Manage User Permissions.
3. By default, "Everyone except external users" has permission to "Create Personal Site" (which includes creating a OneDrive and saving user data such as followed and frequent sites). Remove that group and add specific groups to allow only a subset of licensed users to create a OneDrive.
4. Select OK.

How to Create a Group in SharePoint Online

Groups are great ways to bring users together so that they can collaborate and work together on different topics.

1. On your website or team site, click Settings, and click Site permissions.
2. On the Permissions page, click Advanced Permissions Settings.
3. On the Permissions tab, click Create Group.
4. On the Create Group page, in the Name and About me boxes, type a name and description for this SharePoint group.
5. In the Owner box, specify a single owner of this security group.
6. In the Group Settings section, specify who can view and edit the membership of this group.
7. In the Membership Requests section, select the settings that you want for requests to join or leave the group. You can specify the email address to which requests should be sent.
8. In the Give Group Permissions to this Site section, choose a permission level for this group.
9. Click Create.

How to Add Users to a Group in SharePoint Online

1. On your website or team site, click Share. If you see Members instead of Share, click Members, and then click Add members.
2. By default, the Share dialog that appears displays the message Invite people to Edit or Invite people. This invites the users who you add to join the SharePoint Members group. To choose a different group and permission level, click Show options and then choose a different SharePoint group or permission level under Select a group or permission level.
3. In the Enter names, email addresses, or Everyone box, enter the name or email address of the user or group that you want to add. When the name appears in a confirmation box below your entry, select the name to add it to the text box.
4. If you want to add more names, repeat these steps.
5. (Optional) Enter a personalized message to send to the new users in Include a personal message with this invitation.
6. Click Share.

How to Remove Users From a Group in SharePoint Online

1. On your website or team site, click Settings, and click Site settings. If you don't see Site settings, click Site information, and then click View all site settings. On some pages, you may need to click Site contents, then click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Users and Permissions, click People and Groups.
3. On the People and Groups page, in the Quick Launch, click the name of the group that you want to remove users from.
4. Select the check boxes next to the users who you want to remove, click Actions, and then click Remove Users from Group.
5. In the confirmation window, click OK.

How to Grant Site Access to a Group in SharePoint Online

1. On your website or team site, click Settings, and click Site settings. If you don't see Site settings, click Site information, and then click View all site settings. On some pages, you may need to click Site contents, then click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Users and Permissions, click Site Permissions.
3. On the Permissions tab, click Grant Permissions.
4. In the Share dialog, type the name of the SharePoint group that you want to give access to.
5. By default, the Share dialog displays the message Invite people to Edit or Invite people with Can edit permissions. This grants permissions in the SharePoint Members group. To choose a different permission level, click Show options and then choose a different SharePoint group or permission level under Select a permission level or Select a group or permission level. The drop down box shows both groups and individual permission levels, like Edit or View Only.
6. Click Share.

How to Delete a Group in SharePoint Online

1. On your website or team site, click Settings, and click Site settings. If you don't see Site settings, click Site information, and then click View all site settings. On some pages, you may need to click Site contents, then click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Users and Permissions, click People and Groups.
3. On the People and Groups page, click the name of the SharePoint group that you want to delete.
4. Click Settings, and then click Group Settings.
5. At the bottom of the Change Group Settings page, click Delete.
6. In the confirmation window, click OK.

How to Assign a New Permission Level to a Group in SharePoint Online

1. On your website or team site, click Settings, and click Site settings. If you don't see Site settings, click Site information, and then click View all site settings. On some pages, you may need to click Site contents, then click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Users and Permissions, click Site Permissions.
3. Select the check box next to the user or group to which you want to assign the new permission level.
4. On the Permissions tab, click Edit User Permissions.
5. On the Edit Permissions page, select the check box next to the name of the new permission level. If you select multiple permission levels, the permission level assigned to the group is the union of the individual permissions in the different levels. That is, if one level includes permissions (A, B, C), and the other level includes permissions (C, D), the new level for the group includes permissions (A, B, C, D).
6. Click OK.

How to Add, Change, or Remove a Site Collection Administrator in SharePoint Online

1. On the site, click Settings, and click Site settings. If you don't see Site settings, click Site information, and then click View all site settings. On some pages, you may need to click Site contents, then click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Users and Permissions, click Site Collection Administrators.
3. In the Site Collection Administrators box, do one of the following:
1. To add a site collection administrator, enter the name or user alias of the person who you want to add.
2. To change a site collection administrator, click the X next to the name of the person, and then enter a new name.
3. To remove a site collection administrator, click the X next to the name of the person.
4. Click OK.

Conclusion

SharePoint user and group management isn't that difficult. Just follow the tips above and you'll be a master of user and group management.

You can find more SharePoint tutorials like this on our blog so make sure to check back there everyday. If you are interested, you can also sign up for our mailing list and receive an email every time we publish a new blog.