Protect helps you review Microsoft SharePoint and Teams access, make controlled permission changes, export review evidence, and apply document-governance rules. It uses the signed-in person's existing Microsoft 365 identity and SharePoint permissions.
Choose an entry point
| Entry point | Best for | Available experience |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint command bar | Reviewing the library or folder you already have open | Manage permissions, Manage columns, Fill properties, and View approvals |
| Protect web part | Reviewing sites and permissions from a SharePoint page | Sites overview and permission explorer |
| Microsoft Teams tab | Running the same review experience without leaving Teams | Sites overview and permission explorer |
| Protect browser app | Opening Protect outside an embedded SharePoint page | Microsoft sign-in, sites overview, and permission explorer |
An administrator must deploy Protect before other users can open it. See Deploy Protect to Microsoft 365.
Before you begin
Make sure that:
- You use a Microsoft 365 work account in the tenant that contains the target sites.
- You can open at least one target site directly in SharePoint.
- Your organization allows Protect.
- You have Protect Pro and the required SharePoint rights before you change permissions, publish a metadata policy, fill properties or rename files from a policy, or act on approvals.
For the complete matrix, see Requirements, permissions, and availability.
Open Protect
To open Protect from a document library:
- Open the library in SharePoint.
- Navigate to the folder that you want to review.
- Clear any multi-selection so that no more than one row is selected.
- Select Manage permissions on the SharePoint command bar.
- Confirm that the breadcrumb shows the expected site and folder.
To open the web part or Teams tab, navigate to the page or tab where your administrator added Protect. To use the browser app, select Continue with Microsoft and complete your organization's sign-in flow.
Sign out of Protect
Select Sign out in the product header to clear the Protect session in the current browser and return to the You’re signed out view. Protect does not open Microsoft’s account picker or sign the person out of Windows and other Microsoft 365 applications.
Complete a first review
- Select All sites to open the Sites view.
- Use Filters to narrow the list by site, site type, external-sharing setting, or lock state.
- Select a site name to load its permission entries.
- In Filters, select a Shared with type such as Guest or Anyone with the link.
- Review the Item, Shared with, Access level, and Location columns together.
- Select Export to Excel if you need a record of the loaded permission data.
The result is a workbook that maps content paths to principals and their access levels. For exact workbook behavior, see Export and import permission workbooks.
Continue by task
- Learn every control in Navigate and use Protect.
- Prioritize sites in Review SharePoint and Teams workspaces.
- Interpret permission rows in Explore permissions and sharing links.
- Make changes in Grant, change, or remove access.
- Configure library rules in Configure metadata and naming policies.
- Process selected documents in Fill properties for selected files.
- Send or respond to approvals in Manage approvals for selected files.
- Standardize controls across a large workspace estate in Standardize governance across large workspace estates.