Visual Space manual, Spaces, Members And Invites

Member administration helps a Space welcome people, understand who has joined, and hand over ownership when responsibility changes. It brings several related states into view, but it does not turn them into one kind of access.

Understand The Member States

A person can have more than one relationship with a Space. These states often overlap, yet each answers a different question:

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An invite recipient has been asked to join but is not a member until they accept a valid invitation.

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A joined member belongs to the Space and sees it in their joined-spaces rail.

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A private-area member may enter a protected Space, Subspace, or Activity.

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A role member has capabilities assigned through a Space role, such as permission to organize, publish, moderate, or manage selected areas.

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The owner holds the Space's highest authority and final responsibility. There is one current owner, who is also a joined member.

These are not automatic stages of promotion. Someone can be an ordinary joined member without a role, or receive entry to a private Activity without gaining any staff authority. Membership explains the member experience outside administration, while Space Privacy explains protected-area entry.

Invite People To Join

The Invites page supports two ways to begin: find an existing Visual Space user or send an invitation to an email address. Searching for an existing user is useful when you already know their account. An email invitation helps when you only have their contact address.

Sent invitations remain visible so a manager can understand what happened without treating a pending request as completed membership. Each entry identifies:

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who sent the invitation;

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the recipient's username or email address;

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the current status;

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when the invitation expires, or how long ago it expired.

The recipient makes the final choice from Your invitations. Accepting a valid invitation creates the joined relationship and refreshes the recipient's joined-spaces rail. Declining removes the invitation without joining. An expired or otherwise unavailable invitation cannot be used to enter the Space.

An invitation does not by itself assign a role. For a private root Space, acceptance also establishes the protected entry and navigation needed to open that Space. Nested private areas follow a different owner workflow because their candidates are already Space members.

Browse The Joined Community

The Members page shows people who have joined the Space. Members are presented in groups that help managers understand their current role relationships, and Search filters the visible people when the community is too large to scan comfortably. Clearing the search restores normal browsing.

This page is a view of joined membership, not proof that every listed person can manage the Space. Grouping someone under a role reflects an assignment made through the role tools; simply appearing in the member list grants no extra authority. Use Roles and Permissions when a member needs defined responsibilities.

The settled member list separates joined membership and role grouping from invitations, private access, and authority-changing actions.

The member list also gives the current owner a safe place to select an eligible joined member for an ownership handoff. That owner-only action is deliberately separate from ordinary browsing and role assignment.

Keep Access And Authority Separate

Good member management starts by deciding what the person actually needs:

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Invite them when they need to join the Space.

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Add an existing Space member to a private Subspace or Activity when they need entry to protected work.

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Assign a role when they need additional actions or management responsibility.

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Transfer ownership only when final authority for the entire Space must move.

Private member changes have their own Private members page. For a private root Space, adding a person starts an invitation so they can accept both joined membership and protected access. For a nested private area, the owner can add someone who already belongs to the Space. The verified add and remove path is owner-only, even when delegated management access makes a member list visible. Follow Manage Private Area Access for that focused workflow.

Management Access And Ownership

The owner and people with the relevant delegated Space-management permission can access the member and invitation administration surfaces. The controls available inside those surfaces still depend on the person's authority. Browsing members, searching, or reviewing invite status does not itself grant permission to change roles, private access, or ownership.

Only the current owner can transfer the Space to another active joined member. The confirmation makes the consequence explicit: the previous owner cannot take ownership back on their own. The new owner would have to transfer it back.

Ownership transfer changes who holds owner-level authority. It does not rewrite the authors of existing posts, articles, Goals, or other content. It also does not remove the previous owner from the Space or clear roles assigned to them. Because a published Space must retain an owner, the current owner cannot use the ordinary leave action; they must transfer ownership first if they plan to leave.

Continue With A Complete Workflow

Use Invite and Manage Members to send an invitation, check its state, and verify the resulting joined membership. When final responsibility needs to change, follow Transfer Space Ownership for the confirmation and handoff journey.

Common Questions

Is an invited person already a member?

No. They become a joined member only after accepting a valid invitation.

Can I invite someone who does not yet have a Visual Space account?

You can send an invitation to a valid email address. The Invites page keeps the recipient and status visible while the invitation is pending.

Does accepting an invitation assign a role?

No. Invitation acceptance establishes membership and, for a private root Space, the access needed to enter it. Assign roles separately when the person needs additional capabilities.

Why is someone in Members but not in a private Activity?

Joined Space membership does not automatically grant entry to every private area. The owner must add the person to the relevant protected boundary.

Can every Space manager transfer ownership?

No. Only the current owner can start an ownership transfer, and the recipient must already be an active joined member.

What happens to the previous owner after a transfer?

They remain a joined member. Their existing content authorship and separately assigned roles stay intact, but they no longer hold owner-level authority.

Why can the owner not leave normally?

A published Space must retain an owner. Transfer ownership to another joined member first, then leave as an ordinary member if needed.