Security settings are used to control who can view or modify content and properties. Depending on your site settings, you can set security permissions when you add new documents, when you check in a document, or when you view information. You must have the appropriate access permissions to view or change the security.
You can view and modify security settings assigned to documents and folders within an integrated Microsoft Office application using Integration for Microsoft Office. When you view details for a document or folder, you can view or modify the security settings assigned to the document. See Manage security for more information on permission descriptions.
Typically, security settings are created based on the class of the document, but settings can also be derived from an entry template, from a security policy, or from folder inheritance. For example, when a user adds a new document, the security for the document is based on the security settings that the administrator sets for the document class. Depending on your site settings, you can explicitly set the security for a folder or a document. Documents can use a security policy that consists of one or more security templates that define the security for a document class based on the document's state. For more information, see Set security permissions.
In addition to the security defined for a document, your administrator can define additional security for individual properties associated with the document's class. For example, you might have access rights to add a document to a specific folder and document class. When you set the properties for the document, property access masks might control the properties that you can edit, and might control which values you can see and select in a choice list for the property values. Your administrator defines these settings.