Quick and dirty “User Information List” permissions

In an attempt to make a quick and pretty company contact information list I found that I am very lazy.. well i knew that from the start and it was nothing new to me, but I did find that making the contact information list was a lot easier than I initially tried. After suffering with creating a SQL View that summarises data from our local AD server using LDAP and reading that data with a BCS and linking it to a list I thought.. Hmmm.. there must a be an easier way.. And there is: 1. Enter User List (assuming you have User Profile Sync working) http://<your_sp_server>/_catalogs/users You will only be able to access this site if you are logged in as System Admin.

2. Now create your favourite view for your awesome list

3. Allow your users to see this list. They can’t, well right at this moment at least they can’t. We are going the change that aren’t we, yes we are, such a good SharePoint, who’s a good SharePoint.. oh yes you are, yes you are… Anyway, here comes the trick: Select your view and open the “Modify this View” option, why did we do this? Because there is no way to edit the list using “List Settings” or using SPD.. so we are going to find the list GUID for this list, the easiest is to copy it from the URL when modifying the view: http://<your_sp_site>/_layouts/ViewEdit.aspx?List=%7BBA10D037%2D6A45%2D41C0%2D9727%2DE451C0707370%7D&View=%7B6E5E169F%2DC4C1%2D4784%2DB85A%2D8CB1422179A7%7D&Source=xxxxx Easy isn’t it, now edit your normal “List Settings” URL like this: http://<your_sp_site>/_layouts/listedit.aspx?List=%7BBA10D037%2D6A45%2D41C0%2D9727%2DE451C0707370%7D Now when you follow the link and you will get the list settings for the user info list, be careful here, please. I assume you know what you are doing so do not hold me liable for fiddling with stuff you shouldn’t be fiddling with mmkay.

4. Edit permissions to allow Read rights for authenticated users, or similar groups, I am using our “All Users” group from AD, which works like a charm. Nice isn’t it, this should render you a pretty view for everyone in your AD Sync, so you only need to make sure your AD is up to date, or you can allow users to update their own information using the User Profile Sync services.

Some more reading: http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/User-Profile-List-in-SharePoint-2010