Public Folder Permissions Are Cumulative
Article ID: 180004
Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q180004
SUMMARY
Public folder permissions are designed to be optimistic. Optimistic here implies the "least restrictive" set of permissions.
The Permissions that apply to the user include the set of permissions that the user inherits from each of the groups the user belongs to, in addition to the explicit permissions granted directly to the individual user account. A user's permission level is always the least restrictive of that user's explicit permissions and the permissions of any and all groups to which that user belongs.
This means that if different permissions are given to the same mailbox, the
summation of all the given rights is what the mailbox will end up with.
MORE INFORMATION
For example:
Users A and B exist on a site. The administrator creates two distribution
lists (DLs): Manager and Supervisor. Both User A and User B are added to
the Supervisor DL; only user A is added to the Manager DL. Then, on folder
X, the Manager DL is given the Owner role, and the Supervisor DL is given
the Contributor role. User A will ultimately have Owner permissions on
folder X, even though user A is a member of the Supervisor DL which only
has the Contributor role.
Keywords: kbinfo KB180004