Collaborate with guests

Guest collaboration lets someone outside the normal workspace open a shared canvas and participate with the permission you give them. It is useful for clients, interview participants, contractors, workshop guests, instructors, students, and reviewers who should not become full workspace members. Start with Share a canvas when you need to choose the access level before they enter.

Guest access is intentionally different from member access. Guests can view, comment, edit, use canvas chat, or join audio/video calls when the shared canvas and workspace settings allow those actions, but they do not get every owner or workspace control.

Do not treat "guest" as another word for "workspace member." A workspace member belongs to the workspace directory. An external collaborator is invited to a specific canvas or project. A guest enters through a shared canvas flow and is scoped to the work that was shared. All three can collaborate, but they are managed from different places and see different controls. For the workspace-level model, see Roles and access.

The guest entry flow

Before the full editor loads, guests can see a first-view gate. This entry screen can show the ALLO logo, creator or share context when available, a preview of the first page, the canvas name, an ALLO login button, a guest-name field, and Continue as guest.

The preview is not the full editor. Before access is granted, the canvas does not mount the normal comments, presence, history, search, chat, or collaboration experience. This protects the canvas from opening a live session before the guest has actually entered.

If the guest name is already stored, ALLO can skip the name gate and open the canvas directly. If access is revoked while the guest is active, ALLO returns the person to the gate.

The guest name is a display identity for the shared session. It helps other collaborators recognize who is present, who commented, and who sent a chat message. It does not make the guest a workspace member.

Guest permissions

Guest capabilities still depend on workspace settings. If a workspace disables a feature, the guest will not get it just because the canvas link was shared.

Permission also depends on the shared item. A guest with comment access to one canvas should not expect to open the whole project, browse workspace files, see People, or access another connected canvas. If the guest needs broader access, share the broader project or invite the person with the appropriate role.

What guests see in the canvas

Guests can see the canvas content they have permission to view. In the header, guest views can show Chat, Call, guest profile controls, and a Login option when those features are available. Guests do not see normal Share or Present controls.

The Info tab in the collaboration side panel is member-oriented, and some side-panel or project metadata is member-only. Guests should not be expected to manage project ownership, subtasks, related resources, or workspace-level metadata.

Guests can participate in comments when allowed, but moderation is limited. They can reply and mention. They cannot resolve, reopen, or delete whole threads. Individual guest-authored comments follow the author permission rules available in that guest context.

Guests can appear in live presence, cursor labels, chat messages, reactions, and call participant lists with the guest name or identity available from the entry flow. That visibility is for live collaboration, not workspace membership.

Share with a guest

Open Share, invite the person by email or create a link, and choose the permission that matches the job. For external review, comment access is better than edit access. For a facilitated workshop where guests need to add notes, choose edit access if the canvas should be interactive.

If the canvas uses a PIN or passcode, send it through a channel appropriate for your team. A guest with the right link but the wrong PIN stays in the entry flow and cannot reach the full editor.

For important meetings, test the guest link in advance. Confirm that the guest can pass the entry screen, enter any required PIN or password, and reach the canvas with the expected permission before the session starts.

Guest collaboration scenarios

For a client review, share the canvas with comment access. Ask the client to enter their name, leave comments on specific pages or objects, and mention your team only where an answer is needed.

For a workshop, share edit access shortly before the session, keep instructions locked, use pages for each activity, and give guests a direct page link if the canvas is large.

For an interview or usability study, use a minimal canvas with only the material the guest should see. Avoid exposing unrelated project pages, private comments, or internal decision logs.

Calls and chat for guests

Guests may start or join a Call when the workspace and canvas allow audio/video call features. The call button can show Call when no one is in the room and Join with participant avatars when a room is active.

Guests may also use Chat when it is visible in their header. Use chat for live coordination, but use comments for decisions and feedback that must remain tied to the canvas after the guest leaves.

A call or chat message does not upgrade the guest's permission. If the guest can talk but cannot edit, change the share permission if editing is appropriate.

What can go wrong

If a guest cannot enter, check the link, permission, PIN or password, workspace guest settings, and whether the canvas was moved, archived, deleted, or access was revoked. For a broader access checklist, see Fix access to work.

If a guest sees only a preview or entry screen, they may not have completed the guest name flow, entered the right password, or received access approval.

If a guest cannot comment, the link may be view-only. Change the guest role to comment or edit.

If a guest cannot edit, the link may be view or comment access, the object may be locked, the tool may be unavailable to guests, or the workspace may restrict the action.

If a guest cannot create a sub-canvas, that is expected. Guests do not use the Sub-canvas tool.

If a guest cannot find Share, Present, thread resolve, or Info panel controls, that is expected. Those are member or owner-oriented controls, not guest controls.

If a guest can open the canvas but cannot open a connected project, dashboard, file library, or another canvas, that may be expected. Share the additional work only when the guest should see it.