Microsoft Copilot
Glossary
Broken inheritance
Broken inheritance is the SharePoint condition in which a list, library, folder or file stops taking its permissions from its parent and carries its own unique permissions instead.
Also known as: unique permissions, broken permission inheritance
How it happens
By default, everything in a SharePoint site inherits the site's permissions. Inheritance breaks when someone shares a single file or folder with specific people, creates a sharing link, or sets unique permissions on a library. Each case is reasonable on its own.
Why it matters
Unique permissions are invisible from the site level. The site's member list says who should have access, while hundreds of items below it say something else. That is where oversharing hides, and where owners lose track of who can read what.
Large numbers of unique permissions also make a site harder to review and slower to manage. Restoring inheritance where the exception is no longer needed brings access back to what the site owner can see and decide.
Where Rencore fits
Rencore reports where inheritance is broken across sites, lists, folders and files, and its automations restore inheritance on a site, list, folder or file once the owner confirms the exception is no longer needed.