Restore Permissions

This article explains how to use SPDocKit's Restore Permissions Wizard to restore permissions on a securable object to an earlier state.

Wizard scope

A securable object (subsite, list, folder, list item) and it's permissions scope.

You must have a snapshot with loaded permissions of the selected object from the date you wish to restore it to.

Navigate to Permissions Explorer and select the securable object on which you wish to restore permissions.

Please note! Date filter must be set to Live, otherwise the Restore Permissions button will be disabled

Click on the Restore Permissions in the Manage ribbon.
Choose restore options:
Directly Assigned Permissions – Restore permissions for users with directly assigned role assignments.
SharePoint Group Memberships – Principals will be added or removed from groups.
Missing SharePoint Groups - Groups that were deleted between now and the selected date will be recreated with the same settings as on the selected date.
Permission Levels – Permission levels that were deleted in the between now and the selected date will be recreated and all permission level settings will be restored to the same settings as on the selected date.
Next step will list all the actions that will be taken in the final step of the wizard. Also, it will show you conflicts that may occur during permission restore. If any, you will have to resolve them before continuing. Make sure that pending changes will do exactly what you wanted and have specified in previous steps of this wizard. At this point you can still go back and modify any settings you'd like.
When you click on Next, new dialog will popup and you will have to enter a 5 digit number to confirm that you really want to continue and execute listed actions.
The last step shows you the changes that were made. If some errors have occurred they will be displayed here. It is possible to save this log to disk as a .txt file using Save Log button.

This wizard will not delete groups or permission levels that did not exist on the selected date and were created in the meantime.
The Permission restore action is reversible only if there is a snapshot containing the current permission data. It is recommended that you have a snapshot containing the current permission data so you can reverse changes if something goes wrong.
Essentially, this feature can be used to backup your permissions on a given point in time. Create the snapshot following the rules explained above - and the snapshot itself serves as a backup.

Snapshots must be taken with SPDocKit version 7 or higher and must contain permissions data of the target securable object.
You can only restore permissions on a securable object that currently has unique permissions and had unique permissions on the selected date.
Restoring Base Permissions on existing Permission Levels is not possible from a workstation or for SharePoint Online tenants.
This wizard does not show or restore membership changes made in AD groups.

Last updated 2 years ago