# Invite members and decide on join requests

By the end, the invited person appears in your member list with the status **Invited**, and when they first sign in they have the role you gave them. You decide on join requests from outside in the same way.

> **Type:** guide
> **For:** Owners who grant access
> **Prerequisite:** the permissions **Invite members** and **Decide join requests**, usually the **Owner** role
> **Where in the portal:** **Team** › the **Invite member** button. Join requests appear in the notice bar above the members table.

## Steps

### Invite a person

1. Open **Team** and click **Invite member** at the top right. The command palette and the setup step **Invite your first member** on the dashboard open the same dialog.
2. The dialog **Invite user** (“Send an email invitation and assign a starting role.”) first asks for the **Email**.
3. Under **Role**, choose the starting role. The field is required, so you must replace the preselection **Select role …**. Otherwise the form answers “Please pick a role.”
4. Click **Invite**.

Above the form is your seat count (“2 of 5 seats in use”). If all of them are taken: “Every seat in your package is taken. A larger package adds seats — or deactivate an account.” In the Starter package, there is no role choice: “Your package has no role tiers: every member gets full access. Roles start with Pro.”

![The dialog Invite user with the field Email (1), the selection Role with the preselection Select role … (2), and the Invite button (3)](/docs/organization/bilder/4a356405-invite-member-dialog.png)

### Track open invitations

Invited people appear in the members table with **Invited · expires …** (“No account yet — the invitation is on its way.”), and, once the deadline has passed, with **Invitation expired**. The **Invitations** section lists every invitation you sent as **Pending**, **Accepted**, **Revoked**, or **Expired**. **Resend** sends the link again and extends the deadline, and **Revoke** invalidates it.

### Decide on a join request

If someone registers on their own with an address from your domain, this does not create a second organization but a join request to yours. The address is already confirmed. You learn about it in three ways: as a notice bar above the table (“3 join requests are waiting for a decision”), as a notification in the bell, and by email to all active Owners and Managers. This email cannot be turned off. If you lack the permission to decide, the bar stays a notice, with the addition “Owners decide on these.”

1. Click **Review**. The **Join requests** section expands and shows, for each request, the address, an optional message, **Received …**, **Expires …**, and the status (**Open**, **Accepted**, **Declined**, **Expired**).
2. **Accept** opens the dialog **Accept join request**. It asks for exactly one piece of information, the **Role**. Confirm with **Accept and invite**. This turns into an ordinary invitation.
   Only you determine the role. The request cannot suggest one, because otherwise the requesting person would set their own permissions. As with every invitation, the only choices are roles that you may assign yourself.
3. **Decline** opens **Decline join request?** with the note: “Declining is silent — the person is not notified.”

Open requests expire after 14 days and remain in the list as an entry. After that, the person can try again. As long as a request from the same address is open, no second one is created.

## Check the result

- **Invitation sent** appears, and the row shows up in the table with the status **Invited**.
- Through the link, the person sets a **Display name** and a **Password (min. 12 characters)** and is signed in afterwards. The link is valid for **7 days**.
- After joining, the status changes to **Active**.
- After a decline, **Request declined** appears, and the request remains as **Declined**.

## If something goes wrong

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| “Invitation failed” | There is already an account for this address, or it is invalid | Check the spelling. You manage an existing account under **Team › Members**. |
| “You can only assign roles whose permissions you hold yourself.” | The role is above your own scope of permissions | Choose a smaller role or ask a person with the **Owner** role. |
| “This role does not belong to your organization.” | The role does not come from your own set of roles | Reload the page and choose a role from your organization. |
| The invitation does not arrive or has expired | The email missed its target, or the 7 days have passed | In the **Invitations** section, click **Resend**. |
| An email reports a request, but nobody is in the table | A request is not yet an account | Click **Review** above the table. |

## Related

- [Manage members: change role, block, remove](/docs/organization/manage-members)
- [Who can do what in the portal?](/docs/organization/about-roles-and-permissions)
- [Register an organization](/docs/getting-started/register-organization)