Guest Access

Overview

With Guest Access, members can view information about a project without joining.

For example, a member with View Financials guest access can view the Task Tracker, time entries, rates, budgets, invoices, and other financial information without being a project participant. However, they cannot comment, make changes, or interact with a project in any way. This is useful for managers or administrators who want to view project information and check progress without being seen.

Although similar, here are some differences between members with view-only project permissions and those with Guest Access:

• Members with view-only project permissions appear as allocatable project resources. With Guest Access, members can view project information without appearing as an option to be scheduled or allocated on a project.
• Since they are not official project participants, guest viewers won't appear on the project as either the Provider or Client.
• Members with Guest Access cannot view archived projects, the project's Overview tab, or specific project events in the Activity feed that require action.
• Instead of using the API or manually assigning view-only access to one team member at a time, Access Groups allows you to assign Guest Access in bulk.
  Note: Members cannot be invited to a project as a guest viewer; they must be assigned Guest Access using Access Groups.
• A yellow notification banner at the top-right of the project indicates you are Viewing as Guest. If you would like to join the project, click the Join Project link.
• Members can find projects for which they have Guest Access by going to the Project List tab in Projects and selecting Guest Projects from the Show drop-down menu. Note that team members cannot have Guest Access on projects for which they're participating.

How to Set Up Guest Access on Your Account

1. Hover over Settings in the left navigation and select Access Groups.
2. On the Access Groups page, click the Create Access Group button.
3. A confirmation dialog will appear, asking you to name your new access group. We recommend "Project Guest Access".
   
4. Click Create Access Group. The new guest access group's details page appears.
5. Scroll down until you see the Guest Access set; it’s one of the shaded boxes that appears below the main access group summary details.
6. Click Edit to the right of the Guest Access set.
   
7. In the Guest Access section of the Guest Access page, determine what projects are available for guest access and the level of visibility. There are several options that vary depending on whether or not Organizations is enabled for your account:
   • Account Administrators Only—Check this box if you want members of this access group to have the ability to view projects that are open to Account Administrators (determined by the project’s Privacy settings).
   • All Account Members—Check this box if you want members of this access group to have guest access on projects that are open to all account members (determined by the project’s Privacy settings).
   • Account Members in their Organization (orgs only)—Members of this access group have guest access on projects that are open to all account members, but only projects within their organization.
   • Account Members in any Organization (orgs only)—Members of this access group have guest access on projects that are open to all account members in any organization.
     
8. Next, choose the level of access that members of this group have on projects where they are allowed as guests. Guest users can only view information as permitted by the selected Project Permission level. Note that this only applies to projects in which they are not currently participating.
   • View Financials
   • View Time and Expenses (default)
   • View Tasks

     WARNING

     What you select in the At This Project Permission section will override a member’s default Account Permissions. For example, a Collaborator can be given View Financials project permission access as a guest. Please use discretion when granting guest access to members.

9. Click Save.
   
10. When you’re returned to the group details page, locate the Access Group Members section to add members that need guest access.
11. Click Edit to the right of the Access Group Members box to open the Access Group Members page.
12. On the Access Groups Members page, click the Add Members to Access Group button.
13. When the Add Access Group Members modal appears, search for the account members you want to give guest access by their name or account role.
14. To add a member to the access group, check the box to the left of their name and profile picture.
15. When you are finished selecting members, click the Add Member to Access Group button to add the member(s) to your access group.
16. You return to the Access Group Members page where you are shown the newly added members. 

Related Articles

• What are Access Groups?
• Access Groups
• Access Groups Details
• Access Groups Set: Resource Management Access
• Access Groups Set: Guest Access
• How to Create a New Access Group
• How to Edit or Delete an Access Group
• How to Add or Remove Access Group Members
• How to Configure an Access Group Set