Invite guests and external collaborators

Invite outside people with the smallest access that works

Use guest or external collaborator access when someone outside the workspace needs to review, comment on, or contribute to specific work. Do not add people to the whole workspace when they only need one canvas, one project, or another shared item.

This is especially useful for clients, vendors, freelancers, partners, students in a single activity, interview participants, outside reviewers, and temporary workshop participants. They can work in the place you share without becoming part of your workspace directory.

For the full role model, read Members, guests, and external collaborators. For ordinary teammate sharing, read Share work with teammates.

Availability and permissions

Guest, external collaborator, or workspace member

The right choice depends on what should remain true after the collaboration ends. If the person should disappear from your workspace context after one review, keep access narrow. If they should keep working across the workspace, invite them as a member.

Where to invite guests or external collaborators

Start from the work you want to share. External collaborators are managed at the item level, so the correct place is usually the project, canvas, or other work item itself, not People.

1. Open the canvas, project, or item.
2. For a canvas, open Share. For a project, open the project’s more-actions menu or header action and choose Manage members. For other items, open the access controls shown on that item.
3. Choose whether to invite by email, copy a link, or use the guest flow available for that work.
4. Choose view, comment, or edit access.
5. Send the invitation or link with clear context.
6. After the review, remove or reduce access if the person no longer needs it.

For canvas-specific behavior, read Collaborate with guests and Share a canvas.

Choose the right permission

Comment access is usually the best starting point for external review.

What outside people can and cannot see

Guest and external collaborator access is scoped to the shared work. They should not automatically see People, teams, Billing, workspace settings, unrelated projects, private canvases, or workspace-wide files.

They may see names, comments, visible collaborators, and content inside the item you shared. If the shared canvas contains sensitive material, remove it or create a separate review canvas before inviting external people.

They can receive links, mentions, or notifications only where the item and their access allow it. A copied comment link still requires permission to the underlying work.

On projects, an external collaborator can be listed in Manage members for that project without becoming a workspace member. On canvases, they can appear in the canvas sharing or collaborator surfaces for that canvas. Those lists are access lists for the item, not a replacement for the People directory.

Account and name behavior

Guests may be asked to enter a display name or sign in, depending on the link and workspace settings. External collaborators may need to sign in with the email you invited. If they use a different account, ALLO treats them as a different person.

If a guest or external collaborator says they cannot access the work, ask which email or sign-in method they used. Account mismatch is common, especially with work, school, Google, Microsoft, and personal accounts.

Examples

A client needs to approve a design direction. Share the canvas with comment access. Ask them to leave comments on the specific sections that need changes.

A freelancer needs to build content inside one canvas. Share that canvas with edit access for the project period. Remove access when the contract ends.

A vendor needs to update deliverables inside one project. Add them from the project’s Manage members surface as an external collaborator, then confirm they can open only the project and canvases they should use.

A workshop participant needs to add sticky notes during one session. Use guest access or the sharing mode your workspace allows, then reduce access after the workshop.

A new employee needs access to many projects and should appear in People. Do not use guest access. Invite them to the workspace.

Permission and deactivation notes

External collaborator access is different from deactivated workspace membership. If a person used to be a workspace member and is now deactivated, old member state can block access before item sharing helps. A workspace admin may need to resolve the member state and then share the specific item as external access.

If an external person should no longer access the work, a person who can manage that item’s access should remove them from the item’s Share dialog or disable the link according to the sharing controls available for that item. Removing them from one item does not affect unrelated shared work.

If the person should become a regular teammate, use Invite workspace members. Do not keep using guest access for someone who needs ongoing workspace context.

If a former member is deactivated and should return to the workspace, resolve that state before treating the issue as ordinary item sharing. See Deactivated workspace access.

Common mistakes

Do not use workspace membership for every outside reviewer. It is broader than most reviews need.

Do not use edit access when comment access would work. External edit access should be intentional.

Do not assume a shared link is safe to forward endlessly. Check who can open it and what permission it grants.

Do not forget to remove outside access after a project ends. Shared access should match the current relationship.

Do not tell a deactivated former member to keep trying old links. Ask a workspace admin to choose the correct recovery path.

Recover when outside access fails

If the person cannot open the link, confirm the link, their account email, the active workspace, and the item permission. If they are using the wrong account, send access to the correct one or ask them to sign in correctly.

If they can open the work but cannot comment or edit, change the item permission. Guest identity does not override view-only access.

If the link opens a request-access flow, review the request from Inbox or the item’s sharing surface if you have permission. See Use Inbox.

If the work contains sensitive content, remove the external person first, then review whether the link should be disabled or the item should be duplicated into a safer review version.

If the person should be a full member, stop trying to fix item access and send a workspace invite.