What if you want to update the item permissions on every item in a list or library, BUT you don’t want to trigger an associated workflow?

Why?

Request came in to add a new SharePoint group to all the items in a library.  Options were to update EVERY item in the library and let the workflow update the permissions, update the items ONE AT A TIME…

OR

Use PowerShell to update item permissions and not stress the server(s).

# add powershell snapin
$web = Get-SPWeb -Identity "http://sharepointed.com"
$list = $web.Lists.TryGetList("Taco Time")
$group = "Taco Makers"
$PermissionLevel = "Read"

#get site group and setup permission/role
$group = $web.Groups[$group]
$roleAssignment = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPRoleAssignment($group)
$roleDefinition = $web.RoleDefinitions[$PermissionLevel];
$roleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add($roleDefinition);

if ($list -ne $null)
{
	foreach ($item in $list.Items)
	{
		if ($item.HasUniqueRoleAssignments -eq $False)
		{
			$item.BreakRoleInheritance($True)
		}
	       
                if ($web.SiteGroups[$group] -ne $null)
		{
			$item.RoleAssignments.Add($roleAssignment)
		}
		else
		{
			Write-Host "Group is not valid."
		}		
	}
}
$web.Dispose()