diff --git a/app/client/ui/DocHistory.ts b/app/client/ui/DocHistory.ts
index 14d705b5..587ec1c5 100644
--- a/app/client/ui/DocHistory.ts
+++ b/app/client/ui/DocHistory.ts
@@ -68,11 +68,19 @@ export class DocHistory extends Disposable implements IDomComponent {
     }
 
     const snapshots = Observable.create<DocSnapshot[]>(owner, []);
+    const snapshotsDenied = Observable.create<boolean>(owner, false);
     const userApi = this._docPageModel.appModel.api;
     const docApi = userApi.getDocAPI(origUrlId);
     docApi.getSnapshots().then(result =>
-      snapshots.isDisposed() || snapshots.set(result.snapshots)).catch(reportError);
-    return dom('div',
+      snapshots.isDisposed() || snapshots.set(result.snapshots)).catch(err => {
+        snapshotsDenied.set(true);
+        reportError(err);
+      });
+    return dom(
+      'div',
+      dom.maybe(snapshotsDenied, () => cssSnapshotDenied(
+        t('SnapshotsUnavailable'),
+        testId('doc-history-error'))),
       // Note that most recent snapshots are first.
       dom.domComputed(snapshots, (snapshotList) => snapshotList.map((snapshot, index) => {
         const modified = moment(snapshot.lastModified);
@@ -118,6 +126,10 @@ const cssSnapshot = styled('div', `
   margin: 8px 16px;
 `);
 
+const cssSnapshotDenied = styled('div', `
+  margin: 8px 16px;
+`);
+
 const cssSnapshotTime = styled('div', `
   text-align: right;
   color: ${theme.lightText};
diff --git a/app/server/lib/ActiveDoc.ts b/app/server/lib/ActiveDoc.ts
index fa172a83..df9f7e03 100644
--- a/app/server/lib/ActiveDoc.ts
+++ b/app/server/lib/ActiveDoc.ts
@@ -1624,8 +1624,10 @@ export class ActiveDoc extends EventEmitter {
     this._inactivityTimer.ping();
   }
 
-  public async getSnapshots(skipMetadataCache?: boolean): Promise<DocSnapshots> {
-    // Assume any viewer can access this list.
+  public async getSnapshots(docSession: OptDocSession, skipMetadataCache?: boolean): Promise<DocSnapshots> {
+    if (await this._granularAccess.hasNuancedAccess(docSession)) {
+      throw new Error('cannot confirm access to snapshots');
+    }
     return this._docManager.storageManager.getSnapshots(this.docName, skipMetadataCache);
   }
 
diff --git a/app/server/lib/DocApi.ts b/app/server/lib/DocApi.ts
index 6ba3bbd3..5a2f0aa9 100644
--- a/app/server/lib/DocApi.ts
+++ b/app/server/lib/DocApi.ts
@@ -651,7 +651,8 @@ export class DocWorkerApi {
     }));
 
     this._app.get('/api/docs/:docId/snapshots', canView, withDoc(async (activeDoc, req, res) => {
-      const {snapshots} = await activeDoc.getSnapshots(isAffirmative(req.query.raw));
+      const docSession = docSessionFromRequest(req);
+      const {snapshots} = await activeDoc.getSnapshots(docSession, isAffirmative(req.query.raw));
       res.json({snapshots});
     }));
 
@@ -666,8 +667,8 @@ export class DocWorkerApi {
       if (req.body.select === 'unlisted') {
         // Remove any snapshots not listed in inventory.  Ideally, there should be no
         // snapshots, and this undocumented feature is just for fixing up problems.
-        const full = (await activeDoc.getSnapshots(true)).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId);
-        const listed = new Set((await activeDoc.getSnapshots()).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId));
+        const full = (await activeDoc.getSnapshots(docSession, true)).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId);
+        const listed = new Set((await activeDoc.getSnapshots(docSession)).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId));
         const unlisted = full.filter(snapshotId => !listed.has(snapshotId));
         await activeDoc.removeSnapshots(docSession, unlisted);
         res.json({snapshotIds: unlisted});
@@ -676,7 +677,7 @@ export class DocWorkerApi {
       if (req.body.select === 'past') {
         // Remove all but the latest snapshot.  Useful for sanitizing history if something
         // bad snuck into previous snapshots and they are not valuable to preserve.
-        const past = (await activeDoc.getSnapshots(true)).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId);
+        const past = (await activeDoc.getSnapshots(docSession, true)).snapshots.map(s => s.snapshotId);
         past.shift();  // remove current version.
         await activeDoc.removeSnapshots(docSession, past);
         res.json({snapshotIds: past});
diff --git a/static/locales/en.client.json b/static/locales/en.client.json
index 3d0ba848..b2bd8434 100644
--- a/static/locales/en.client.json
+++ b/static/locales/en.client.json
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@
   "DocHistory": {
     "Activity": "Activity",
     "Snapshots": "Snapshots",
+    "SnapshotsUnavailable": "Snapshots are unavailable.",
     "OpenSnapshot": "Open Snapshot",
     "CompareToCurrent": "Compare to Current",
     "CompareToPrevious": "Compare to Previous",