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Invite teammates

Choose between workspace membership and shared-work access before bringing teammates, reviewers, or clients into ALLO.

6 min read

The first invite sets the shape of the workspace

Inviting people looks like a small setup task until the first reviewer cannot open the canvas, the client appears nowhere in People, or a new teammate signs in with the wrong email and lands in an empty workspace. Most invite problems start before anyone clicks Send invites: the team has not decided whether this person belongs in the workspace or only needs one piece of work.

A workspace invite is for someone who should become part of the team space. A share is for someone who should enter one canvas, project, or review surface. Get that choice right and everything after it is calmer: People stays useful, permissions stay narrow, and every access problem has a clearer owner.

The short version

Situation	Best action
They need ongoing access, People directory visibility, team context, or admin responsibility.	Invite them to the workspace.
They need to view, comment on, or edit one canvas or project.	Share a canvas or project instead of inviting them to the workspace.
You are ready to invite them.	Use the exact email address they will sign in with, choose the narrowest role or permission that still lets them do the work, then send the first canvas or project they should open.
The invite fails.	Check the email account and item permission before resending anything.

Availability

Item	Details
Available on	All plans. Plan, seat, domain, and workspace settings can limit specific invite controls.
Available for	Web app and desktop app. Recipients can accept from supported web or app entry points.
Who can invite workspace members	Workspace admins, or members with invite permission.
Who can share one item	People with sharing permission on that item.

Choose the access before you choose the button

Start with the job this person needs to do. The invite path follows from that.

Person or situation	Better path	Why
Core teammate joining regular ALLO work	Workspace invite	They need Home, People, member search, projects, mentions, and ongoing workspace context.
New hire replacing someone	Workspace invite plus role review	They need durable access, and an admin should check whether the old member state needs deactivation cleanup.
Manager who will invite others or change roles	Workspace invite with the right role	Member and role changes are workspace-level actions.
Client reviewing one campaign canvas	Share a canvas	They need the work, not the whole workspace directory.
Freelancer editing one project or canvas	Item sharing or external collaborator access	Keep access scoped to the work period and remove it when the work ends.
Student or participant in one activity canvas	Guest or item-level share	They need the activity, not every workspace surface.
Teammate who only needs to comment on one draft	Item sharing with comment access	Comment permission keeps feedback attached without giving edit access.

When the answer is unclear, choose the narrower path first. You can invite someone to the workspace later; cleaning up broad access after the fact is the worse job.

Invite a workspace teammate

Use a workspace invite for people who should belong to the team.

Confirm you are in the workspace they should join.
Open Workspace members, or open Home → People and use the invite action if your workspace shows it there.
Choose Invite members.
Enter the exact email address the person will use to sign in.
Choose the member role or Invite as option that matches their responsibility.
Send the invite.
Ask them to accept while signed in with the same email address.
After they join, confirm they appear in People.

If Invite members is hidden, do not keep hunting for a secret button. Ask a workspace admin to check your role, seat capacity, plan, and domain policy. Invite workspace members covers the full admin checklist.

Set the role without turning every problem into admin access

Workspace roles control broad responsibility. Item permissions control one piece of work. Keep those separate.

If someone needs to edit one canvas, share that canvas with edit access. If they need to invite members, adjust roles, review deactivated access, or handle workspace settings, they need the right workspace role. Giving admin access to solve a canvas edit problem is too broad and makes the workspace harder to reason about later.

Use Members, guests, and external collaborators when the difference between member, admin, guest, external collaborator, view, comment, and edit is the real question. Use Change a member role when the person is already a member and their workspace responsibility changed.

Use sharing when the person needs one canvas, project, dashboard, file, or review flow.

For a canvas, open the canvas and choose Share. For a project, open the project and choose Manage members. Choose the permission based on the work:

Permission	Use it when
View	They need to inspect or present the work.
Comment	They need to leave feedback without changing the work.
Edit	They are expected to change content directly.

Then send context with the link. "Please comment on the pricing page by Friday" does more work than a bare link. A link can open the door; context tells people what to do once they get there.

For the full sharing model, start with Share work with teammates. For canvas-specific behavior, use Share a canvas.

Give the new person somewhere to land

An accepted invite is not onboarding. After someone joins, send them the first piece of real work.

Send the workspace name and the first canvas, project, or comment thread they should open.
Tell them what you need from them: view, comment, edit, or take over admin work.
Mention them in the first comment that needs their attention.
Point them to Home so they can find Recent, Mentions, Activity, and People.
Use People to confirm they joined as a workspace member.
Send Find work again if they need a map for search, Recent, and shared work.

This small handoff prevents the classic "I accepted the invite and now I see a blank product" moment. The person needs a door and a destination.

What can go wrong

The invite email did not arrive. Confirm the exact email address, then ask the recipient to check spam, promotions, company quarantine, and mail rules. Resend once after checking the address. Use When an invite does not arrive if the message still does not show up.

They joined but cannot open the canvas. Workspace membership and canvas permission are different. Open the canvas Share dialog and give them view, comment, or edit access to that canvas.

They can open one canvas but do not appear in People. They probably have item-level access as a guest or external collaborator, not workspace membership. That is correct for narrow review access.

The invite button is missing. Your role, plan, seat capacity, workspace type, or email domain policy can hide member invites. Ask a workspace admin to check Workspace members.

They signed in with the wrong email. Ask them to sign out and use the email that received the invite. ALLO treats work, school, Google, Microsoft, and personal accounts as different identities.

A former teammate needs access again. Check their member status before sending another invite. A deactivated member needs admin recovery or a deliberate item share, not an old link.

You are not sure whether to invite or share. Use this split:

If the person needs...	Use...
Ongoing workspace access	Invite workspace members.
One canvas	Share a canvas.
One project or item	Share work with teammates.
Admin or role changes	Manage workspace members.
A missing invite email	When an invite does not arrive.
An access error after sign-in	When you can't access work.

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