Add members, admins, guests & groups

Adding members, admins & guests
In this Article

It's easy to work with others in Notion. Add members to share, edit, and collaborate on pages together within a workspace. Want to work with people outside your team? Invite them as guests to view, comment on, or edit specific pages within the workspace 💌

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Note: Your Notion experience may be slightly different from the one outlined in this article. Thanks for your patience as we try out new ways to improve Notion!

There are several ways users can interact with a Notion workspace:

  • Workspace owners: admins who can manage workspace settings, delete a workspace, and manage fellow admins, members, and guests.

  • Membership admins (Enterprise plan only): Help manage members by adding/removing them from a workspace and groups. Membership admins do not have access to workspace settings.

  • Members: People on your team who can create and edit Notion pages, but not edit settings.

  • Guests: People external to your team who you want to work with on specific pages. They can be invited to individual Notion pages, but not an entire workspace. 

Members are individuals on your team. Common examples of members include:

  • Colleagues at the same organization or have the same organization email domain

  • Individuals who you are collaborating with (reading, commenting or editing) across a large portion of your workspace

Adding members via email

  • Go to Settings & members at the top of your left-hand sidebar.

  • Click Add a member and type the email address of the person you want to add.

    • If you don't have invite access, you will instead have the option to request to add a member.

  • Select whether to add them as a Workspace owner or Member from the dropdown, then press Invite.

    • Workspace owners can edit settings and invite new members.

    • Members cannot edit settings or invite new members.

  • They'll receive an email with a link to sign in and join your workspace.

  • Go to Settings & members at the top of your left-hand sidebar

  • Click the blue Copy link button to copy the secret link to your clipboard, and share with any team member who you'd like to come work with you. You can share via Slack, email, text message, or however you like.

  • When they click on the secret link, they'll be able to join your workspace automatically as a paid member, without you having to add their email address manually.

  • To disable this feature, click the toggle to the right of Invite link.

On paid plans, you'll be charged per member in your workspace. For more information on plans, go here →

Allowed domains & auto-joining

If you're using Notion at your company, you can make it easy for anyone to automatically join your workspace as a member when they sign in with their work email.

  • Go to Settings & members.

  • Click Settings in the sidebar of the window that pops up.

  • Scroll down to the section titled Allowed email domains.

  • Type any email domain that you want to grant access to automatically (i.e. your company's email domain). Press enter.

  • You can add multiple allowed domains in this field, but you'll only be able to add domains that workspace members' accounts are under.

Add members - allowed email domains

Now, whenever someone signs into Notion with an email that has one of those domains, they'll see the option to join your workspace during onboarding. If the user joins your workspace, they will become a member of your workspace and you will be billed accordingly.

On paid plans, you'll be charged per member in your workspace. For more information on plans, go here →

Turn a member into a Workspace owner

Go to Settings & members.

  • To the right of the member, click the dropdown under Access level and choose Workspace owner.

  • That person will instantly have Workspace owner capabilities to edit settings and add new members.

  • Follow the same instructions to turn a Workspace owner into a member.

Share a page with members

For any page, choose which members can read, comment, edit, and share it.

  • Click Share, then Invite.

  • Search for a member, then choose what type of access you'd like to give that group from the dropdown:

    • Full access: They can edit and share the page.

    • Can edit: They can edit the page's content, but they can't share the page. (This is only available on paid plans.)

    • Can comment: They can only read and comment, not edit or share.

    • Can view: They can only read the content, and can't share it.

    • Remove: Revokes their access to the page.

Teamspaces are a dedicated area for every team within your organization or company, and can be customized on an individual basis. Learn more about teamspaces →

To share a teamspace with members of your workspace:

  • Hover over the name of the teamspace in your sidebar.

  • Click the ••• button, then Teamspace settings.

  • From here, you'll be able to add members to the teamspace using the blue Add members button.

  • If you'd like to add all members of the workspace to the teamspace automatically, you can toggle on Make default teamspace.

Note: Making a teamspace default will automatically add every member of the workspace to the teamspace.

This action is not reversible: you'll have to manually remove members if you change your mind about the teamspace being default. Please be sure that it's something you'd like to do!

Note: When you remove a member from a workspace, that person will instantly lose access to the workspace, and pages from the Private section of their left sidebar will be hidden from view. You can give them a heads up so they can save their private pages before they’re removed.

If you invite that member back to the workspace, their private pages will be unhidden.

To remove a member:

  • Go to Settings & membersMembers.

  • Open the Access level dropdown next to the member’s name and select Remove from workspace.

Guests vs. members

Guests are individuals external to your team who you invite into your workspace on a page-by-page basis. Common examples of helpful guests include:

  • People who have a different organization email domain.

  • Contractors or interns who are working with you temporarily.

  • If you're a contractor, you might invite your clients to work on pages as guests.

  • Friends, family, mentors, etc. that you want to have contribute to or review your work.

Here's how the Notion experience is different for guests:

  • They can't be given workspace-wide access. They must be invited to individual pages in order to view them and their sub-pages.

  • They can't create new pages outside of the ones they have access to.

  • They can't be added to groups of members.

  • They can't adjust workspace settings or billing information.

  • They can't add new members to your workspace.

  • They can't add new integrations to your workspace.

Otherwise, they have the same capabilities as all other members.

Guest limits

If your workspace is above the guest limit for your plan, new users that you share content with will be automatically added as a member (instead of as a guest) if they belong to your workspace's email domains. This could mean that they have an allowed email domain or an email domain matching the workspace owner’s domain or one of the workspace’s verified domains.

See the guest limit for your plan here →

Note: You aren't billed more for guests, only members.

Add a guest

On any page you want to share with a guest:

  • Go to Share at the top right. Click Invite.

  • Enter the email address of any guest you want to invite.

  • Select a level of access for that guest from the dropdown and press Invite.

  • They'll receive an email with a link to the page.

  • If they don't already use Notion, they can sign up to access your page.

Note: When you invite someone to a page, they can automatically access all of its sub-pages by default. That being said, you can restrict or expand sub-page permissions!

Guest requests

Guest requests give workspaces owners control of who their members invite as guests. This feature is available on Enterprise plans only, and only workspace owners can enable or disable it.

Enable guest requests

  • Select Settings & membersSecurity.

  • Make sure Disable guests is turned on, then turn on Allow members to request adding guests.

    • Workspace owners can Disable guests without removing existing guests from the workspace. They still have the option to remove all existing guests if desired.

Once this is turned on, members will have to submit a request before they can invite a guest. Workspace owners are exempt and can continue to invite guests directly.

Note: Allow members to request adding guests is a workspace level setting, and will override the any teamspace level guest setting. This means if a teamspace allows guests, but the workspace has enabled guest requests, members will have to submit guest invite requests to add guests to pages in the teamspace.

Request to invite a guest

If you're a workspace owner, you can invite guests directly.

If you're a member:

  • Navigate to the page you want to invite a guest to. Just like with regular sharing, you must have full access permissions on the page to request to invite a guest.

  • Select Share and type the name of the guest you want to invite.

  • Select the role you want the guest to have.

  • Select Invite.

  • A notification will be sent to your workspace owner about your request, along with the page, role and email of the guest you requested. You will also receive confirmation that your workspace owner has been notified.

Approve a guest

Guest invite requests must be approved on a per page, per guest basis. Only workspace owners can view and approve guest requests. Each request will have the email of the guest, the member who requested it, the role that was requested, and the name of the page.

A workspace owner can approve or reject a request to invite a guest directly from the notification they receive, or by going to the request inbox in Settings & membersPeopleRequests. Once a workspace owner responds to a request, the member who submitted will be notified of the decision.

Change guest access levels

Once you've added a guest to a page, you can always change their level of access later 🔒

  • Go to Share at the top right. You'll see the page's guests listed in the dropdown menu.

  • Click the menu to the right of a guest's name. Choose which level of access you want to grant that guest from the following options:

    • Full access: They can edit and share the page. (This is not available for guests on the Free Plan.)

    • Can edit: They can edit the page's content, but they can't share the page.

    • Can edit content: This permission level is only found on database pages. They can create and edit pages within the database. They can't change the structure of the database and its properties, views, sorts or filters. Learn more about databases here →

    • Can comment: They can only read and comment, not edit or share.

    • Can read: They can only read the content, and can't share it.

    • Remove: Revokes their access to the page.

View guests & permissions

You can see a list of all the guests in your workspace and the pages they each have access to by clicking Settings & members at the top of your left sidebar and the Members option. Select the Guests tab at the top.

  • Under your list of workspace members, find your list of guests.

  • To the right, you'll see how many pages each guest has been invited to. Click to see or hop to the pages they can access.

  • On any of these pages, you can edit their level of access or remove them.

Turn guests into members

Give any guest the ability to access your entire workspace by turning them into a member. On paid plans, you'll be charged for each additional member.

  • Go to Settings & members.

  • Click the Guests tab and scroll down to find your list of guests.

  • Click the dropdown to the right of the guest you want to convert. Select Convert to member. They'll be moved to the bottom of your list of members.

  • In your member list, you can choose to make this person a Workspace owner or to remove them from your team.

    • Only Workspace owners can change workspace settings and invite new members.

Remove guests

To remove a guest from a specific page (they may retain access to other pages):

  • Go to Share, find the name of the guest, click the dropdown to the right of their name and select Remove.

To remove a guest from all pages in your workspace at once:

  • Go to Settings & members, click the Guests tab, scroll down to find the right guest and click the dropdown to the right side of their name.

  • Select Remove. They'll no longer be able to access any pages.

You can set varying and granular permissions for different groups and teams without having to divide your people into different workspaces! Instead, create groups inside one workspace and grant them different levels of access page by page. Here's how.

Note: Guests in your workspace can't be added to groups. This feature is for members only!

Create groups

Keep in mind that only Workspace owners can create and edit groups, whereas Membership admins (on the Enterprise plan) can only edit existing groups. Given that's the case, here's what to do:

  • Go to Settings & members at the top of your left-hand sidebar.

  • Select the Members tab in the sidebar of that window.

  • You'll see a list of all your members. To the right of the header Members, click Groups.

  • Click Create a group and enter a name for your group.

    • To set an icon for the group, just click the emoji icon that appears on hover.

  • Toggle open your new group, click + Add a member.

  • Add as many members as you want to any group.

  • You can also click Remove to the right of any group member.

  • To rename or delete a group, click ••• to the right of its name.

  • You can always search someone's name or email to see which group they're in.

Share a page with groups

For any page, choose which groups can read, comment, edit, and share it.

  • Click Share, then Invite. You'll see all groups at the bottom of the pop-up.

  • Pick a group, then choose what type of access you'd like to give that group from the dropdown:

    • Full access: They can edit and share the page.

    • Can edit: They can edit the page's content, but they can't share the page. (This is only available on paid plans.)

    • Can comment: They can only read and comment, not edit or share.

    • Can view: They can only read the content, and can't share it.

    • Remove: Revokes their access to the page.

  • Once a group has been added, you'll see it in the Share menu, and you can adjust their access level in the drop-down.

    • You can give multiple groups access at any level on the same page.

    • Permissions on any page also apply to all of their sub-pages.

Share a teamspace with groups

Teamspaces are a dedicated area for every team within your organization or company, and can be customized on an individual basis. Learn more about teamspaces →

To share a teamspace with groups in your workspace:

  • Hover over the name of the teamspace in your sidebar.

  • Click the ••• button, then Teamspace settings.

  • From here, you'll be able to search and add groups to the teamspace.


FAQs

I tried adding a guest to my workspace but they were turned into a member automatically. How can I prevent that?

If your workspace is above the guest limit for your plan, new users that you share content with will be automatically added as a member (instead of as a guest) if they have the same organization email domain.

To allow for a new user with the same organization email domain to be added as a guest, you will need to remove existing guests to fall below your plan limit, upgrade to a plan with a higher limit, or work with our sales team (for eligible customers).

If your workspace is above the guest limit for your plan, you may have the Allowed Email Domains setting turned on. When enabled, this feature allows people with that email domain to join your workspace as a member automatically. You can disable this setting in the Settings tab of Settings & Members in the left sidebar.

Is there a limit to how many guests I can add?

Yes, there are limits depending on your plan.

If your workspace is above the guest limit for your plan, new users that you share content with will be automatically added as a member (instead of as a guest) if they have the same organization email domain.

To allow for a new user with the same organization email domain to be added as a guest, you will need to remove existing guests to fall below your plan limit, upgrade to a plan with a higher limit, or work with our sales team (for eligible customers).

Additionally, the Notion team may reach out to you to put a plan together to ensure optimal member and guest usage, or help your workspace remove guests to be within your plan's limit.

How can you turn a member into a guest?

  • Go to Settings & Members, scroll down to find the right member and click the dropdown to the right side of their name.

  • Select Remove. When you do this, they will lose access to all their private pages in this workspace, so make sure they have their private pages backed up elsewhere before you do this.

     

  • Once they've been removed as a member, you can re-add them as a guest from the Share menu at the top of any page.

I clicked the Join or create workspace button, but it will only let me create a workspace. How do I join a workspace?

You can only join a workspace via the Join or create workspace button if that workspace has the Allowed Email Domains setting enabled to allow users with your email domain join the workspace automatically.

Otherwise, you'll need to ask an admin from the workspace to send you an invite.

How do I share with individuals and not whole groups?

You can share a private page with individual members of your workspace by clicking Share at the top right and then Invite a Person. Search for their name, set a level of access for them and press Invite.

You can also share a private page with a guest through the same mechanism, only you should type their email instead of searching their name and press Invite.

Why do I need to disable workspace-level access?

You don't have to. Just know that whatever level of access is specified for Everyone at [workspace] is the lowest level of access for everyone in your workspace. If you want some pages to not be visible to certain people, then we recommend disabling it. You can always grant some groups or individuals more access.

Why are these pages in the Shared section of my left-hand sidebar?

Those are pages shared with only specific groups or individuals. They aren't visible to the rest of the people in your workspace. In order for pages shared with groups to show up in this part of your sidebar, you need to disable Everyone at [workspace]. Otherwise, everyone in your workspace will still see it.

As a quick refresher, any page in the Workspace section of your sidebar can be viewed in some respect by everyone in your workspace. Any page in the Private section of your sidebar is for your eyes only.

How do permissions change if I move a page from Shared to Workspace in my sidebar?

First, all members of your workspace will be able to see your page and have full access to edit and share, so you may want to change that under Share at the top right next to Everyone at [workspace].

The people or groups who you had previously shared that page with will retain their level of access to the page, but the Everyone at [workspace] setting will override it if it's set at a higher level. For instance, if Everyone at [workspace] is set to Full Access, groups that could previously only read your page can now edit and share it. If you disable Everyone at [workspace], these groups will revert back to read-only access.

How can groups be used instead of multiple separate workspaces?

We've seen people create multiple workspace instead of groups to set granular permissions. For instance, they create separate workspaces for Design, Marketing, their executive team, etc. so they can't access, edit, or get distracted by each other's work. You don't need to do this. Instead:

  • Disable Workspace access. That way pages won't show for people and groups who aren't specifically granted access.

  • On every page, grant differnet levels of access per group. Those access levels will hold true for all the sub-pages on that page.

  • So, for example, you could have a section of your workspace just for the engineering team. Create a group of all your engineers, then on the top-level page for that team, turn on Full access for only that group. Nest pages inside that page, and only the engineering team can access them, too!

Can I create a shared private page using groups?

Yes. If you create a page in the Private section of your sidebar, you can go to Share and toggle on access for a group inside your workspace. Choose their access level like you would on any other page. You'll see the page automatically move to the Shared section of your sidebar. Only you and the members of that group will be able to see it.

How can I allow members in my workspace to request guests for approval?

As a workspace owner, you can disable guests for your workspace in your workspace security settings, but still allow members to send guest invite requests for review by the workspace owners. This provides a standardized way for guests to get access to content within your workspace, without being an all or nothing approach.

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