Manage workspace members

Member management controls who belongs to the workspace

Use workspace member management when you need to review who belongs to the workspace, invite people, change roles, deactivate or remove access, and understand whether someone is a full workspace member. Use People when you need to browse the directory. Use Share dialogs when you need to manage access to one canvas or project.

This distinction prevents a lot of messy fixes. If a person is not a workspace member, they may still have access to one shared item as an external collaborator or guest. If a person is a workspace member, they still may need item permission to open a private canvas.

For the role model, see Members, guests, and external collaborators. For invites, see Invite workspace members.

Availability and permissions

Where to find members

Use Home → People when you need to browse members, teams, or the org chart. People is designed for lookup and context. It helps teammates find each other without turning every lookup into an admin action.

Use Workspace settings → Members, or the member management surface exposed in your workspace, when you need administrative controls. That is where admins review roles, invite members, change access, and handle deactivated members.

In large workspaces, member lists may load through search and filters instead of showing every person at once. If someone does not appear immediately, search by name or email, clear filters, and confirm the active workspace before assuming they are missing.

When member management is hidden

Member management is not shown just because a person can edit a project or canvas. It is a workspace-admin surface, and ALLO hides it when the current account, plan, or workspace type cannot use it.

If the workspace has only one person, member management can be absent because there is no member list to administer. That is expected for one-person plan states. It is not the same as a loading failure.

What you can manage

Member statuses and what they mean

If you cannot find a person in member management, ask whether they are really a workspace member. External collaborators and guests often need to be managed from the canvas or project they can access.

Good member management habits

Review members when people join, leave, move teams, change responsibility, or need billing/admin access. Membership should reflect the team that actually belongs to the workspace.

Keep admin roles limited. Admins can manage sensitive workspace settings, member lists, roles, billing-related controls, and access recovery where the workspace exposes those controls. Give admin access because someone owns workspace administration, not because they need to edit one canvas.

Use teams to organize members when the workspace gets large. Teams help people understand departments, pods, classes, clients, or working groups. See Manage teams.

Use item sharing for clients and short-term reviewers. A workspace member list should not become a dumping ground for every person who ever reviewed a canvas.

Examples

If a teammate changed departments, update their team membership and review whether they still need access to old work. Do not remove their workspace membership unless they no longer belong to the workspace.

If someone left the company, deactivate or remove their workspace access according to your workspace policy. That should block old links before project or canvas permissions are considered.

If an external client says they cannot find the workspace in their sidebar, that may be expected. If they were shared one canvas as an external collaborator, they are not a workspace member and may not see the workspace directory.

If a manager cannot invite members, check their role. They may be a project owner but not a workspace admin.

Permission and visibility notes

Member management does not list every person who can access every item. A canvas can have guests or external collaborators who are not workspace members. To remove their access, open the shared item and adjust its permission.

Workspace member status does not guarantee item access. If a member is read-only on a canvas, check that canvas’s Share dialog. If they cannot see a Goals/OKRs item, check the Goals/OKRs permission, filters, archive state, and workspace role.

Deactivation is stronger than view-only access. A deactivated member should not use old direct links as a back door into the workspace. Admin recovery must happen at the workspace member boundary.

Common mistakes

Do not recreate a member by sending duplicate invites before checking their status. They may already be invited, active under another email, or deactivated.

Do not remove a member just to remove one shared canvas from their view. Adjust the canvas permission instead. Removing or deactivating the member affects the whole workspace.

Do not assume a missing admin button is a loading problem. If the action is hidden, you may not have the role, plan, or workspace type needed to manage members.

Do not expect team membership alone to grant access to every private item. Teams organize people. Sharing still controls access where the item is restricted.

Recover when member management looks wrong

If a member is missing, check the active workspace, search by email, clear filters, and verify whether the person is a guest or external collaborator instead of a member.

If an invite is stuck, verify the email and resend only after checking spam and quarantine. Use When an invite does not arrive.

If a person cannot open work after becoming a member, check item permission. Use Share work with teammates for the sharing layer, then use When you can't access work if the item still fails to open.

If a deactivated person should return, decide whether they should return as a full workspace member or receive access only to one shared item. Reactivation is right for full membership. External sharing is right for narrow collaboration.

If the member list seems stale after a change, refresh the page and search again. In large workspaces, lists may load by current search and status, so the person may not appear until the right filter is selected.