User roles and permissions FAQ

Frequently asked questions about user roles and permissions.

Q: What's the difference between members and guests?

A: Members are people in your organization who actively work in ClickUp. 

Guests are people you've invited to your Workspace by sharing specific items with them. Guests only have access to those shared items. 

There are two guest types:

  • External guests: External guests are people from outside your organization like partners and contractors.
    Charges for inviting them are calculated according to your permission-controlled guest-to-member ratio. There is no charge for inviting external view-only guests. 
  • Internal guests: People from inside your organization. 
    Inviting internal guests costs the same as adding a member to your Workspace. 

The two guest types are based on several things, including SSO authentication and email domain.

Q: Can I hide time tracking and time estimates from guests? 

A: You can hide time tracked, time estimated, and specific Custom Fields from individual guests. Check out our article on managing guests for more information.

Q: Can a guest edit tags?

A: You can give individual guests permission to add and remove tags on tasks. Guests can't create new tags or delete existing tags.

Learn more about setting individual guest permissions.

Q: Can a guest create views?

A: Yes, you can give individual guests permission to create views. The guest needs to have a List or Folder shared with them as well as edit or full permissions.

Q: How do I hide Custom Fields from a guest?

A: To hide Custom Fields from a guest:

  1. Hover over the List or Folder you shared with the guest and click the ellipsis ... icon.
  2. Select List settings or Folder settings.
  3. Click Custom Fields.
  4. Hover over each Custom Field, click Guests, and toggle to Hide.

Q: Where do I set permissions for members or guests?

A: Permissions are set directly from the item you share. For example, if you shared a Folder, you can open the sharing settings menu for that Folder to set permissions for each user.

Q: Can I reassign guest seats to other guests?

A: Yes. When you remove a guest and invite another, the new guest automatically takes the seat of the previous one.

Q: Can I convert a guest into a member? Vice versa?

A: Yes! Take a look at our article on converting user roles for more information.

Q: What's different about guests in paid Workspaces?

A: On paid plans:

  • You can give guests different permissions.
  • You can hide Custom Fields from guests.
  • You can hide time estimates and time tracking from guests.
  • Learn more about the difference between guests on paid plans and Free Forever plans. 

Q: Are members or guests with limited permissions granted full access to an item when you change it from private to public?

A: No, these users retain the same permissions.

Q: If a guest has full permission to access a Folder, can they create Folders or Lists?

A: No, guests can't create Folders or Lists. Guests with full permissions can create tasks.

Q: If a guest has full permission to access a Folder, can they edit things such as the custom statuses or Custom Fields of the Folder?

A: Guests can't access Folder settings.

Q: If a guest has full permission to access a List, can they create tasks from emails?

A: Yes! Check out our article on creating tasks via email for more details.

Q: Can members or guests with comment permissions change the status or assignees of a task? 

A: Yes, but only if they are assigned to the task. If they unassign themself from the task, they will no longer be able to.

Q: What else can members with full access do?

A: Members with Edit or Full permissions to a Folder are able to edit Space, Folder, and List settings such as Custom Fields and statuses.

Q: Is there a permission level that lets users delete a task but doesn't let them delete a List? 

A: There's no permission level for this, but it's possible. You can set the permissions for members in your List to edit so they are prevented from deleting it. Then, select the permissions for each task within the List to full, so they can delete tasks if needed.

Q: Is there a permission level that allows users to delete a List but not a Folder?

A: There's no permission level for this, but it's possible. You can set user permissions to full on the List but edit on the Folder.

Q: If I remove custom permissions from a guest on a paid plan, will they become a view-only guest?

A: Yes. Be sure their permissions are set to view only in every location they've been invited to. 

Q: What tags can guests with edit permissions on a task use?

A: They can select tags from any other tasks they have access to use with edit permissions on a task.

Q: When a subtask is converted to a task, who becomes its owner?

A: The person who made the conversion becomes the owner.

Updated

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