The View Reports in Public Folders permission

The View Reports in Public Folders permission gives the user visibility and access to all public report folders, although the user is not listed in the sharing access for that particular report folder. When you check through the Share menu in the report folder, the username with this permission will be not listed there.

This permission is limited only to view a report, not to create a new report and store to that folder, or to customize the existing report in that folder. This permission should not be given to the standard user.