How to Restrict SharePoint People Column To a Specific Group?

In SharePoint, the People column is used to assign tasks, show who is responsible, or add team members to a list or library. By default, it displays all users in our organization, which can sometimes be overwhelming and lead to confusion.

To solve this, we can limit the People column to only show certain users or groups. This is particularly helpful when working with a small team, department, or project group. In this article, I will show you how to limit choices in a SharePoint people picker column.

Limiting SharePoint People Picker Field to a Specific Group Of People

For this example, I created a document library named Team Documents. In this library, I added a People column called Assigned To. By default, this column displays all users, but I would like to restrict it to a specific group of people.

To limit the choices in the Assigned To column, we need to do two things:

1. Create a SharePoint Security Group and add users to it
2. Edit the People column and configure it to use that Security Group (using classic settings)

Create a SharePoint Security Group and Add Users

Before we can limit the People column, we first need a SharePoint Security Group. This group will contain only the users you want to appear in the People picker. Once the group is ready, we can connect it to the People column.

Follow these steps to create a group and add users:

1. Open your SharePoint site. Click the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner. Select Site permissions.

2. At the bottom of the panel, click Advanced permissions settings.

3. On the ribbon, click Create Group.

4. Enter a Group Name (for example, Project Team Members). Scroll down and click Create.

NOTE:

At this stage, you don’t need to assign any special permissions to the group. We are just creating it to capture a subset of users who will be the only available choices in the People column.

5. After the group is created, open it. Click New -> Add Users.

6. Enter the names or email addresses of the people you want to include. Click Share to finish.

Now our security group is ready, and you can link it to the People column.

Edit the SharePoint People Column and Add the Security Group

Once the SharePoint Security Group is ready, the next step is to update the People column so it only allows selections from that group. This ensures that the Assigned To column displays only the users you have added to the group.

Follow the steps below to do this:

1. Go to your Team Documents library. Click the Settings (gear icon) -> Library settings.

2. Click on the Assigned To column (the People column we created).

2. On the column settings page, look for the Choose from section. Select the SharePoint Group. Then, under Choose from which group, select the SharePoint Security Group we created earlier (for example, Project Team Members).

Now, when you edit or add an item in the library, the Assigned To column will only display users from your security group.

If someone tries to enter a name outside of that group, they’ll get an error message.

I hope this SharePoint tutorial was helpful.

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