I am using SharePoint Foundation 2013 and I created a DocLibrary with the site collection admin account. I added a .docx file directly in it, but all the users (all in the same SharePoint group) that have only the Read permissions do not see the file. If I switch their permissions on this library to anything else (Edit, Contribute, etc.) they can see the file. The permissions on the document are inherited from the library.
Also, I did not change anything in the Central Admin Permission Policy.
My question is: why users cannot see documents with Read permissions?
Best Answer
In the Versionning Settings of the library, "Who should see draft items in this document library" was set to "Only users who can edit items", so I switched it to "Any user who can read items".
Even if content approval was disabled, the document was considered as a draft and the rule was applied.
Below are the complete steps for follow: http://sharepointbag.com/latest/blogs/sharepoint/list-and-libraries/13/documents-are-not-visible-to-users-with-read-permissions-in-sharepoint-2013-document-library/