Set permissions on queries

As with most objects in TFS, you can control who is allowed to create or edit shared queries. By default, only members of the Project Administrator’s group can create or edit a shared query. All users can create and edit their own queries and save them to their My Queries folder.

By creating folders under Shared Queries, you can grant permissions to users for each folder. For example, if you have several teams contributing to a team project, then you might want to create a folder under Shared Queries for each team to manage their own set of shared queries.

You can set permissions from Visual Studio Online, Team Web Access (TWA), and the Team Explorer plug-in for Visual Studio (requires Visual Studio 2013.2 Update). If you’re using the Team Explorer plug-in for Eclipse, you’ll need to access the web portal to set permissions on queries.

By default, only members of the Project Administrators group are granted permissions to set permissions.

Add a query folder and set permissions

  1. If you’re not a member of the project administrators group, get added, or have your Edit project-level information permission set to Allow.

  2. Create a folder.

    New query folder link on queries context menu

  3. Open permissions for the folder you just created.

    Security link on context menu for a query/ folder

  4. Change the permissions so that the team member or group can contribute and manage permissions for the folder.

    Permissions dialog for a query

    Use the Add menu to add a user identity or TFS group.

    Contribute allows team members to create and edit queries and folders under the folder where the permissions were granted. And, Manage Permissions allows team members to manage the permission settings on queries and subfolders.

Q & A

Q: Can I change the owner of a query or folder?

A: Yes. Use the Change owner link from the permissions window for the query or folder.

Q: Can I add folders to team favorites?

A: No. You can only add folders under My Queries and under Shared Queries.

Q: Are the queries and folders I create on Team Web Access the same as in Team Explorer?

A: Yes. You might have to Refresh refresh your client to see changes you made in another client.

Q: Can I move a query or a folder?

A: Yes. In TWA, choose Rename from the context menu. In Team Explorer for Visual Studio, simply drag the folder to the new location.

In Team Explorer for Eclipse, choose Move from the context menu and select the folder to which you want to move the item.

Why does <<no access>> appear in the title of some work items?

A: When query results contain a work item that you do not have required permissions to view, the cells of that work item are blank, except that the work item ID appears, and the title cell indicates <<no access>>.

When you sort a work item list that contains no-access rows, those rows sort as if their cells were blank. For example, if you sort by State, each no-access row appears at the top of the list. This rule applies to the Title field also. If you sorted by Title, no-access rows appear at the top of the list even though the title appears as <<no access>>. The exception to this rule is that if you sort by work item ID no-access rows appear in the expected sequence.

See Also

Concepts

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