---
title: "Invite people to your organization"
description: "How to add people to an IoTFlows organization, by email or as an existing IoTFlows user. One dialog, Add Member, handles both and is reachable from the member directory at /members and from the members control in the dashboard header. Typing a complete email address offers an emailed invite; typing a name or username searches every IoTFlows account. Every invite carries an organization role, and the role list is served by IoTFlows. A pending invite shows in the directory as the invited email address followed by [Invite sent. Pending account creation] until the person creates their account. There is no resend action: to reissue an invite, remove the pending row and invite the address again."
category: "People and access"
source_url: "https://www.iotflows.com/docs/admin/invite-members/"
---
# Invite people to your organization

Add someone by email, or add an existing IoTFlows user.

**Prerequisite** Organization Owner or Organization Administrator. See [Roles and permissions](/docs/admin/roles-reference/#roles).

An *invite* is a pending membership: the organization has reserved a place for an email address, and the person takes it up by creating an IoTFlows account against that address. Both paths, a new person and someone who already uses IoTFlows, run through one dialog called **Add Member**. You do not create accounts for other people, and there is no admin-managed password.

## 1. Invite by email
Use this path when the person has never used IoTFlows.

1. Open **Members** at `/members`.
2. Select **Add Member**.
3. Type the person's full email address into the search field, which reads `Invite members via email or search by username or email`.
4. Select the **Invite** row that appears beneath the field, for example **Invite maria.lopez@northfield.com**. Until the address is complete the row reads **Keep typing full email** and does nothing.
5. Choose a role under **Select organization role for member**.
6. Select **Send invite**.

The dialog closes and a message reads "Invite has been sent". IoTFlows emails the address with a link to create an account. The person must sign up with the same address the invite went to, see [Sign in to IoTFlows](/docs/get-started/sign-in/).

![The Add Member dialog with a full email address typed into the search field and staged as a line beneath it. Numbered callout 1 marks that staged address, and callout 2 marks Organization Member, the selected option in the four-way role list under the heading Select organization role for member, above Owner, Administrator and Observer. Cancel and Send invite sit at the bottom](/images/admin/adm-invite-01.webp)

*Inviting by email. Invite operators as Members, not Observers.*

> **Warning:**
> **Already invited?** "This email is already a member or has a pending invite in this organization" means the address is already in the directory, either as a member or as an unaccepted invite. Check the directory for that address before sending a second one, see [Pending invites](#pending).

### Invite fields
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Yes | Typed into the search field. Must be a complete, valid address. The invite is bound to this address, so the person cannot accept it with a different one. |
| Organization role | Yes | Chosen from the radio list under **Select organization role for member**. **Send invite** stays disabled until one is selected. |

## 2. Add an existing user
Use this path when the person already has an IoTFlows account, for example someone who works in a second organization on the same site.

1. Open **Add Member**.
2. Type their name, username, or email address into the search field.
3. Select **Add** on their row in the results, or hover the row and select **Add** on the card that opens.
4. Choose a role under **Select organization role for member**.
5. Select **Confirm Add**.

The message reads "Member has been added". No email goes out and nothing is pending: they see the organization the next time they open IoTFlows.

You do not choose between the two paths, the dialog chooses for you. One search field covers both, matching against every IoTFlows account, and it only offers to email an invite when the text you typed is a complete address that matched nobody. People already in this organization appear in the results as rows reading "Already a member of this organization", with no **Add** control.

## 3. Choose a role
A *role* is the set of actions a person can take across the whole organization, and everyone has exactly one. Hover a role name in the dialog to read its description.

The role list is served by IoTFlows, not built into the dashboard. **Add Member** fetches it each time it opens, so the names in front of you are authoritative. The four roles in use today are described in [Roles and permissions](/docs/admin/roles-reference/#roles).

**Invite operators as Organization Member, not Organization Observer.** An Observer has read-only access and cannot classify downtime, and downtime classification is the one thing you need operators to do. Observer is for people who read reports and change nothing, such as a plant manager or a customer.

A role is not a machine restriction. To hold someone to a subset of the fleet, give them a role and then set their machine access, see [Limit which machines a member can see](/docs/admin/machine-access/).

## 4. Pending invites
An invited person has no IoTFlows account yet, so there is nothing to name their directory row after. IoTFlows gives the pending membership a placeholder *handle*, the short identifier every account carries, prefixed `inv_`.

A pending invite shows in the directory as the invited email address in italics, followed in amber by `[Invite sent. Pending account creation]`, where a member would show a name and a username. The row still carries the person's role and the same controls as any other row.

![Three rows of the member directory. The first shows a member, with an avatar, a name, a username and the role Organization Owner beneath. The two rows under it are pending invites: each shows an email address in italics beside a silhouette avatar, followed by violet-highlighted amber italic text, in square brackets, Invite sent. Pending account creation, with Organization Administrator beneath](/images/admin/adm-invite-02.webp)

*A pending invite shows the invited email address followed by [Invite sent. Pending account creation], where a member shows a name and username.*

The same row appears inside **Add Member** when you search for that address, which is the fastest way to tell an unaccepted invite from a typo before you send another one.

## 5. Resend or cancel an invite
**There is no resend action.** If an invite has not been accepted, first have the person check their spam folder for mail from IoTFlows and confirm the address on the directory row is the one they read. To reissue, cancel the pending invite and send a fresh one to the same address.

To cancel a pending invite:

1. Open **Members** at `/members`.
2. Find the row for the invited address.
3. Select the trash icon at the right of the row.
4. Select **Confirm remove** in the **Remove member** dialog.

The message reads "Member has been removed", and the address leaves the directory. To reissue after canceling, send a new invite to the same address from step 1 of [Invite by email](#email).

## 6. Invite from the header
You do not have to be on the member directory to invite someone. The members control in the dashboard header holds two buttons: a stack of member avatars that opens `/members`, and an add-person icon beside it, tooltipped "Add members to this organization", that opens the same **Add Member** dialog in place.

![A cropped detail of the right end of the dashboard header. A bordered control holds two member avatars and the count 22, and a violet box highlights the add-person icon button immediately to its right. The theme switch, a megaphone, a settings gear and the account avatar follow](/images/admin/adm-invite-03.webp)

*The same invite dialog, reachable from the header's add-person button beside the member avatar stack.*

Use the header when you are in the middle of something else, for example assigning a work order and finding that the person you want is not in the organization. Use `/members` when you are inviting several people at once, because the directory shows you who is already there.

## See also
- [Roles and permissions](/docs/admin/roles-reference/)
- [Change roles and remove members](/docs/admin/manage-members/)
- [Create and manage teams](/docs/admin/teams/)
- [Limit which machines a member can see](/docs/admin/machine-access/)