How to export a SharePoint permissions report to SharePoint every week
Run a permissions report on a schedule and save it straight to a SharePoint document library as Excel, CSV or list items, filed under a Year/Month folder so every weekly file builds a permissions history, scheduled weekly through Windows Task Scheduler.
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Transcript
Runtime 3:45. Created by the Cognillo product team. Narrated with an AI-generated voice.
0:00 Thanks for joining. Before we begin, just a disclaimer: this video was written by the Cognillo team, and this voice-over was AI-generated. In this video, we'll set up a SharePoint permissions report that runs every week and saves itself to a SharePoint library, so there's always a current record of who has access.
0:19 On Tasks, tick the site to report on. We're using one site here, the Architecture knowledge base, but you can tick as many sites as you need. Then search I want to for permissions report.
0:30 Pick Permissions report. The scope shows one site, nineteen lists, and about ten thousand items.
0:37 Click Next. The summary shows what the job will do. Right now, it only saves the report to History. No email, and no SharePoint export.
0:46 Give the job a name, Weekly permissions report. That's the name you'll see in History and on the Schedules page. Then open the Export tab.
0:56 Turn on Export, and the report goes to SharePoint after every run. Choose what to export, and the format: an Excel file, a CSV file, or SharePoint list items. We'll keep Excel, with the default Grouped By Scope view.
1:11 Type the site to save to. The toolkit checks it right away: reachable, with full control.
1:18 Name the library. If it doesn't exist yet, it's created on the first run. For the folder, use the date tokens: Year, slash, Month, so each month's reports get their own folder. The preview shows what it will be when it runs.
1:33 Name it for me builds the file name from the report, the view, and the date, so every week gets a new file. And each run keeps every file, so you build up a history of your permissions over time.
1:44 Now click Schedule. Turn the schedule on, and give it a name, Every Monday morning. Then choose how often it runs: one time, daily, weekly, or monthly. We'll pick Weekly.
1:56 Weekly starts with Monday to Friday. Remove Tuesday to Friday, so it only runs on Mondays.
2:04 Next, the start. Open the calendar, pick next Monday, the ninth, set the time to seven A M, and click OK. That's when the first run happens, and it repeats every Monday after that.
2:16 Add a description, and save. The schedule is registered with Windows Task Scheduler, so it runs on its own, even when the toolkit isn't open.
2:27 We don't have to wait until Monday to see it work. Click Run now, and the same job runs right away, export included. About ten thousand items are scanned in under two minutes.
2:42 When the report finishes, the export starts straight away, with its progress at the top of the report. Then it's done: the file name, its size, and a link to open it in SharePoint.
2:56 On the Schedules page, the job is listed: weekly, on Mondays, next running November ninth at seven A M, with export to SharePoint turned on.
3:06 And here it is in SharePoint. The library was created on the first run, with a folder for the year and the month, and inside, this week's report. Open it, and it's the full permissions report, grouped by scope, ready to share with auditors or site owners.
3:28 Thanks for watching. Now every Monday, a fresh permissions report lands in SharePoint, without anyone running it by hand. And if you have any questions, email hello at cognillo dot com.