Invite only

Sometimes part of your community is for a smaller group: an HR topic and chat just for the HR team, a mentoring room for a few students, an internal event, a folder of contracts. With Invite only, you choose exactly which members get in. The rest of the community doesn't see the content.

You can make these invite only:

• Topics
• Chat rooms
• Events
• File folders (the rule covers everything inside, subfolders included)
• Video collections
• Videos (not in a collection)

The owner, admins and moderators set it up and always have access to everything, invited or not.

Turn it on

1. In your community, open Settings → Invite only. You'll see your topics, chat rooms, events, folders, video collections and loose videos, each in its own group.
2. Find the item and turn on the Invite only switch.
3. For topics, chat rooms, events and folders, choose who sees that it exists:
   • Visible with a lock: other members see only the name, with a lock. No content.
   • Hidden: other members don't even know it exists.
4. The guest list opens. Under Add from the members, search by name or @username, tick the people and tap Invite members.

Each invited member gets a notification with a link to the item.

In the Files tab, the team also has an Invite-only folders button that opens the same screen.

Remove someone

Open the item in Settings → Invite only, tap the guest count to see the Invited list, and tap the X (Remove invitation) next to the person. They lose access right away.

To open the item to everyone again, turn the Invite only switch off.

What people who aren't invited see

Nothing of the content. It doesn't show up in the feed, search, the AI, e-mails or notifications.

• Visible with a lock: they see only the name with a lock. If they open it, they get the message "Only for invited members. Want to join? Ask the owner, an admin or a moderator of the community."
• Hidden: they don't see it at all.

Videos and collections

For videos and video collections there's no "Visible with a lock" option: people who aren't invited don't see the video or the collection at all.

• A video inside a collection follows the collection's rule. To make it private, make the collection invite only.
• You can also set this right in the video or collection form: in Who can watch, choose Invite only (you choose who sees it) and search for the members there.

More in Video library.

Rules to know

• The main topic and the main chat room are always open. They show "main — always open" and can't be made private. Create another topic or room for the private content.
• Folders: an invite-only folder protects everything inside it, including subfolders and their files. See Files library.
• Events: when you make an event invite only, its live stream stops being featured on the community cover.
• Only members can be invited. Guests are picked from the community's member list.

Common questions

Can moderators manage invitations? Yes. The owner, admins and moderators can turn invite only on and off, invite and remove people.

Does a member know they were invited? Yes, they get a notification with a link.

Someone shared the link to a private topic. Can others open it? No. Whoever isn't invited gets a lock message at most, never the content.

Tips

• Company or team use: create one topic and one chat room per department (HR, Sales, Finance), make them invite only and invite each team.
• Use "Visible with a lock" to create desire: members see that a VIP room exists and can ask to join.
• Use "Hidden" for sensitive matters, like contracts or internal decisions, so no one even knows the item exists.