Users and Groups

Invite users and create user groups

If your project is open to the public, any user can join it. This is made particularly easy if you have chosen to list your project on our Project Listings Page. However, you may have a project that is limited only to those you have explicitly invited. Or, you may wish to invite users to your project and assign them to a group if, for example, you are holding a meeting where you want a group of users to collaboratively develop a plan.

By default, you'll be the only user and you will be designated as an Administrator. You may add as many users as you like and each of them could be designated as an Administrator as well. The best practice is to keep the number of Administrators to a minimum. As they say, too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth (and can lead to a bunch of headaches).

User Groups

You can create an unlimited number of groups which can then be given special privileges such as viewing private data layers and participating in private forums. We find it particularly helpful to start out with a Staff group when starting a project so that we can share internal thoughts in a Forum and develop a game plan for about how the project is configured.

Under User Groups, click "Create Group" and give it a name:

A Staff Group can facilitate internal conversations as you configure your project.

Invite Users

You may invite users individually or in bulk. Enter the user's email address, full name, assign administrative privileges (if they are intended to be a part of this select group), assign them to a group (e.g., the Staff group) if needed, and then click "Send Email Now" before clicking submit. If you don't send an email immediately, they will appear under the Draft Invitations section and you can send the email later.

Inviting a single user.

To invite users in bulk, enter comma-separated values for user emails and names. You may assign administrator access and group membership and send emails as you would above.

Inviting multiple users at once.

Check to see that you invitations have been sent under the Sent Invitations section. If your email(s) bounced, it will be listed under the section Bounces, Complaints and Errors.

Banning Users

It is highly unusual that users misbehave. If deemed necessary, however, you may ban users from posting from any forums. To do so, lick on the individual's account under the Participants list and toggle on "Ban from Forums".

Banning users from posting to a forum is highly unusual but perhaps necessary.

You cannot altogether remove individuals from a project to which they have been invited or a project that is completely public. Remember, however, that you can restrict user access to data layers, forums and sketching tools by limiting those items to defined groups.