Sharepoint - Giving each User their own document folder

Question

I have a requirement in a Sharepoint 2013 setup wherein I've to give access to external users to a document library. Each User will have a folder by their name, and would be allowed to ACCESS their folder ONLY. They are not even allowed to see each other folder names. They can anytime upload additional or delete the existing documents. External Users are setup using FBA.

Inside the network, there is a Windows user who'll have access to all the folders and documents of that library. I don;t think standard document library can handle this since there is no "Deny View" Permission in Sharepoint.

Sharepoint Folks - Please guide what will be the best way to handle this kind of requirement.

Answer 1

I don't think having a bunch of folders makes sense. However, you could have users upload documents to the shared documents library and have a column in the documents library of the user's username. You could then create a content query on that list to query documents that the current user uploaded. You could then replicate a "folder" type of feel by creating this page, styling it, and directing all users to it.

Let me know what you think of that.

Answer 2

There actually is a way to deny all users. Remove the Authenticated Users, and Remove Anonymous Access from the Library. I agree, that using folders is the wrong idea here. Folders can cause much more harm than help in certain situations.

Create a site to hold multiple libraries, or disinherit the site, remove everyone not essential to the libraries, and use it as a container for the document libraries. Each library can still have it's own unique permissions, and without Authenticated or Anonymous, you'r essentially telling SharePoint that none has access except for the users specified in the ACL's on that library.

You COULD leave the permissions intact on the site and powershell the creation of the document libraries within the site, assigning custom permissions.