The SharePoint Guy

Permissions are the most misunderstood — and most dangerous — part of SharePoint. Get them wrong and sensitive files are exposed; get them right and your site becomes secure and trustworthy. In this quick video I’ll explain the three default permission levels you must know: Full Control (admins only), Edit (modify content but not settings), and Read (view only). I’ll show the common mistake of sharing with individuals instead of groups and how to fix it by creating Microsoft 365 Security Groups so permissions update automatically when people join or leave. You’ll also learn how to break permission inheritance on folders or libraries for HR or finance documents (Right-click → Manage Access → Stop Inheriting Permissions) and why quarterly permission audits matter—check Site Settings → Site Permissions and limit Full Control to two or three people. Follow these simple steps to stop accidental exposure and make your SharePoint secure and manageable.

Think automation only works in the cloud? Think again. In this quick guide you’ll learn how Power Automate Desktop lets you automate any repetitive desktop task—clicking, copying, pasting, filling forms, moving files—without writing code. Download it free at powerautomate.microsoft.com (Windows 10/11), open the app, click New Flow, and start in the flow designer. Use the left-panel library of pre-built actions (files, web, Excel, system, and more) or hit the Recorder to capture your exact clicks and keystrokes. Stop recording and watch your manual steps become editable actions. Add If conditions, For Each loops, and variables to handle logic (e.g., loop through Excel rows, skip empty cells) and run the flow with Play. You can even schedule flows with Windows Task Scheduler to run automatically each morning. Tip: start by automating the task you do most often—if you do it more than twice, it’s worth automating. Fast, simple, powerful automation for your PC—no code required.

Ever walked out of a Teams meeting and immediately forgot half of it? Microsoft Copilot fixes that. This quick demo shows how to enable Copilot (admin turns it on in Microsoft 365), open the Copilot panel during a Teams call, and start transcription so Copilot listens in real time. See how to ask Copilot live to summarize discussion points, identify who said what, and pull up suggested prompts. After the meeting, access the Recap from Calendar to find the full transcript, AI summary, and auto-generated action items you can edit, assign, or export to Planner or Loop. Missed something? Use transcript search and timestamp jumps to replay the exact moment. Stop drowning in follow-up emails—use Copilot to capture decisions, assign tasks, and stay present in meetings.

If your team treats SharePoint like just a file drive, you’re missing powerful built-in features you already pay for. In this quick video I show five game-changing tools to make SharePoint work harder for your team: column formatting (use JSON templates to color-code statuses for fast scanning), alerts (get email or text notifications on adds/changes/deletes), version history (one-click restore of previous file versions), modern page web parts (build an internal dashboard with calendar, news, links, and Power BI), and content approval (require manager approval before items go live). I’ll show where to find each setting and how to enable them so you can boost visibility, control, and productivity without buying new tools. Watch to start getting more value from SharePoint today.

You don’t need to know code to build a business app—here’s how to do it in about 15 minutes with Microsoft Power Apps. Sign in at make.powerapps.com, choose Create → Start with data, and connect a SharePoint list or Excel file on OneDrive. Power Apps will auto-generate a three-screen app (browse, detail, edit). Customize fields, layout, colors, and fonts from the left and properties panels, or apply a theme to update the whole app. Add screens, forms, or buttons (use Navigate(ScreenName) on OnSelect) to wire up navigation. Preview with Play, test creating/editing/deleting records, then Publish and share by adding team emails—access via Power Apps mobile or Teams. What used to take weeks, you just built in minutes. Start simple: leave requests, equipment logs, or visitor sign-ins, then expand from there. Watch to see each step live and get confidence to launch your first app today.

If your team still sends approval requests by email and waits days for a response, this video will change how you work. I’ll show you how to build a fully automated approval workflow in Power Automate in under ten minutes. Follow along as I sign in at make.powerautomate.com, create an Automated Cloud Flow (e.g., “Manager Approval Request”), and choose a trigger like “When an item is created or modified” in SharePoint. You’ll learn how to add the “Start and wait for an approval” action, pick response options (First to respond is usually best), assign approvers (static or dynamic), and craft a clear approval message. Then I’ll add a Condition to handle Approve and Reject branches—updating SharePoint or sending confirmation emails accordingly—save and test it. Approvers can respond from Outlook without logging into Power Automate, and every decision is timestamped and logged. No more chasing sign-offs or lost requests—this workflow can pay for itself in the first week. Comment below what approval process you’ll automate first.

One of the most common SharePoint mistakes is sharing sites too broadly—often by accident. Before you hit publish, take two minutes to check permissions: go to Site Settings → Permissions and confirm who has access. Oversharing is a real security risk, and a quick permissions check can prevent it. Follow for more practical SharePoint tips.