Good afternoon. We have enabled a root site collection to support anonymous access.  The site's landing page is available to the public, but the document library named "Documents" is not.

When I used Settings --> Site settings --> Site permissions to view the permissions associated with "Documents", the system showed me that Anonymous users have been granted access to the entire website. It also indicated that some content on the site has different permissions from what I see. I clicked "Show these items", and the only item that was displayed was "MicroFeed". I clicked "view exceptions" and then clicked "manage permissions". The system indicated that the folder has unique permissions, but it does not state what they are.

How do we correct this issue? I am not as concerned about the MicroFeed as I am about the Documents (unless the MicroFeed permissions are impacting permissions throughout the site). Thank you.

Hi

For your issue, navigate to the Documents library->Library ribbon, click Share with->make sure the Documents library doesn't have unique permission and make sure the Anonymous users have view items permission. 

How to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2013:

http://www.sharepoint-journey.com/how-to-enable-anonymous-access-in-sharepoint-2013.html

Hope it helps, Feel free to reply back.

Best Regards

Lisa Chen

Hello, Lisa. Thank you for your suggestions! Here's our environment.

We have a Document Library named Meeting Materials.
This document library contains several folders. The name of one of the folders is 30 - BOT July 2015 Retreat_Full Board Meeting Materials.
This folder contains several files. One of the files is named 01 BOT New Members Orientation and Retreat_Agenda_ July 9-10, 2015.

The steps we used to configure the site for anonymous users are identical to those you recommended. The files that reside outside of our document libraries are available to anonymous users. Lists, libraries and documents inside libraries are not accessible to anonymous users.

Information About Meeting Materials:

1. This document library inherits permissions from its parent (the root site).
2. Anonymous Users have View Items permission. However, when anonymous users click the link to access the library, they are prompted for their credentials.

Information About 30 - BOT July 2015 Retreat_Full Board Meeting Materials:

1. This folder inherits permissions from its parent (the root site).
2. Anonymous Users have View Items permission. However, when anonymous users enter the URL of this folder directly, they are prompted for their credentials.

Information About 01 BOT New Members Orientation and Retreat_Agenda_ July 9-10, 2015:

1. This file inherits permissions from its parent (the root site).
   
2. Anonymous Users have View Items permission. However, when anonymous users enter the URL of this file directly, they are prompted for their credentials.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Hello, Lisa. Thank you for your suggestions! Here's our environment.

The following items all inherit permissions from their parent (the root site). Anonymous users have View Items permission to these items, also.

• doclib1 - A document library
• folder1 - A folder in doclib1
• file1 - A file in folder1

Anonymous users can access the landing page and documents that are not part of any document library. However, they are being prompted to enter credentials if they attempt to access the items above.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

• Edited by robynne33 15 hours 31 minutes ago
• Marked as answer by robynne33 9 hours 40 minutes ago

Hello, Lisa. Thank you for your suggestions! Here's our environment.

The following items all inherit permissions from their parent (the root site). Anonymous users have View Items permission to these items, also.

• doclib1 - A document library
• folder1 - A folder in doclib1
• file1 - A file in folder1

Anonymous users can access the landing page and documents that are not part of any document library. However, they are being prompted to enter credentials if they attempt to access the items above.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

• Edited by robynne33 Saturday, August 29, 2015 4:08 PM
• Marked as answer by robynne33 Saturday, August 29, 2015 9:59 PM

Here's the resolution to this question. Thanks for your suggestions, Lisa.

We had enabled publishing on our site (a Team Site). In doing so, we (unintentionally) activated the Limited-access user permission lockdown mode feature. This feature prevents anoynmous users from accessing application pages - including lists and libraries. When we deactivated this feature, anonymous users were able to access content on the site.

Thanks to Eric Skaggs (@skaggej) for sharing the answer. For more information, check out http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/01/26/sharepoint-2013-and-anonymous-users-accessing-lists-and-libraries.aspx.

• Marked as answer by robynne33 9 hours 40 minutes ago

Here's the resolution to this question. Thanks for your suggestions, Lisa.

We had enabled publishing on our site (a Team Site). In doing so, we (unintentionally) activated the Limited-access user permission lockdown mode feature. This feature prevents anoynmous users from accessing application pages - including lists and libraries. When we deactivated this feature, anonymous users were able to access content on the site.

Thanks to Eric Skaggs (@skaggej) for sharing the answer. For more information, check out http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/01/26/sharepoint-2013-and-anonymous-users-accessing-lists-and-libraries.aspx.

• Marked as answer by robynne33 Saturday, August 29, 2015 10:00 PM

Hi robynne33,

Thanks for your sharing.

Best Regards,

Lisa Chen