Every level
Site collections, sites and subsites, libraries, lists and folders in one run, and individual files and items with their own permissions if you tick it.
Reports
SharePoint permissions report: who can see what, in Excel
One workbook of every permission on the sites, libraries, lists and folders you pick, down to single files if you want it. SharePoint groups, sharing links and Microsoft 365 groups are opened up to the people in them. Read-only, and free on every plan.
Is there a SharePoint permissions report?
Not one that covers everything. SharePoint's Check Permissions answers for one person on one site, on screen, and the site sharing report covers one site's sharing. ShareMaster's Security matrix writes every permission on the site collections, sites, libraries, lists and folders you pick to one Excel workbook, with groups and sharing links expanded to the people in them. It is read-only and free on every plan.
What you get
A SharePoint permissions report that answers who, where and why
Groups opened up
SharePoint groups, sharing links and Microsoft 365 groups are expanded to the people in them, so a name in a group is a name in the report.
Teams and channels
Teams permissions covers each team's site and the separate site behind every private and shared channel.
Free and read-only
The reports change nothing in SharePoint and run on every plan, including the free Community plan. Each one is kept in Report history.
What is in the permissions workbook
The Security matrix writes one Excel workbook, or a separate file per site or per location if you prefer. It opens with a Summary that states first anything it could not read, so an empty sheet never passes for a clean result, and then lists every list and library with how many of its items carry their own permissions, each linked to its own tab.
- Web permissions: who holds which permission level on each site, and which lists still inherit it.
- SharePoint groups: every group in scope with its members.
- Sharing links: the hidden groups SharePoint creates for each link, with the people they reach.
- Microsoft 365 groups: each group expanded to its members, with the SharePoint group it sits in, which is how it got access in the first place.
- A tab per list or library with unique permissions, listing the files and folders that break inheritance and who can open them.
A user permissions report: everything one person can reach
"What can this person see?" is the question behind most permissions requests: a leaver, a contractor, an auditor asking about one account. SharePoint's Check Permissions answers it for one site at a time, on screen. Run the Security matrix across the sites in question with group members expanded, filter the workbook by the person's name or email, and you see every place they have access, including the access they only get through a group or a sharing link.
From the report to the clean-up
When the report shows access that should not be there, the same app takes it away. These need a paid plan; the free trial and Community can run the reports but not the removals.
- Remove unique permissions resets the items you choose to inherited, saving each item's full permission set to a run log before it changes anything.
- Remove a person from sharing links takes one person out of every specific-people link they were given and leaves the links and everyone else alone.
- Remove shared links revokes the links you approve after a scan, behind a confirmation that states the count.
For the item level on its own, Report unique permissions and Report shared links are free on every plan too. The SharePoint permissions audit guide walks through a full audit, step by step.
The built-in SharePoint options, compared
| Option | What it covers | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Check Permissions (site permissions page) | One person on one site | On screen only |
| Site sharing report | One site's sharing, run by a site admin | CSV per site |
| Data access governance reports | Which sites are overshared, for tenants with SharePoint Advanced Management | Report in the SharePoint admin center |
| PnP PowerShell | Anything you script, at any level | Whatever the script writes |
| ShareMaster Security matrix | Sites, libraries, lists, folders and items you pick, groups and links expanded to people | Excel workbook, no script |
PnP PowerShell is free and as flexible as you can make it, which is why scripting-capable admins use it. The cost is the script: the permission model, throttling and paging past the list view threshold all have to be handled and maintained. The guide to exporting SharePoint permissions to Excel covers that route.
FAQ
SharePoint permissions report questions
How do I export SharePoint permissions to Excel?
Run ShareMaster's Security matrix on the sites, libraries, lists or folders you want and save the workbook. It has a Summary sheet, the site-level permissions, sheets for SharePoint groups, sharing links and Microsoft 365 groups, and a tab for each list or library with unique permissions. Without a tool, PnP PowerShell can export permissions too, if you write and maintain the script.
How do I see everything one user has access to?
SharePoint's Check Permissions shows one person's access on one site at a time. For many sites, run the Security matrix across them with group members expanded, then filter the workbook by the person's name or email: you see each place they have access, including access they only get through a group or a sharing link.
Does the report include sharing links and Microsoft 365 groups?
Yes. Sharing links and SharePoint groups get their own sheets with the people in them, and Microsoft 365 or Entra groups are expanded to their members, with the SharePoint group each one sits in, so you can see why it has access.
Can it report on Teams private and shared channels?
Yes. Teams permissions picks teams and runs the security matrix on their SharePoint sites, including the separate site behind every private and shared channel: who can open what, through which group, and every sharing link.
Does it go down to individual files and folders?
Yes, if you tick item-level permissions. Every list or library with unique permissions gets its own tab listing the files and folders that break inheritance and who can access them. Report unique permissions gives the same item-level view on its own.
Is the permissions report free?
Yes. The Security matrix, Teams permissions, Report unique permissions and Report shared links are on every plan, including the free Community plan. Removing sharing links, unique permissions or a person from links needs a paid plan, and the free trial cannot run them.
See who can see what, today
Try ShareMaster free for 14 days. The permissions reports are on the free Community plan as well, so you can run them before you decide anything.
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