# Invite learners and manage community roles

Written by Geeta Thakker
Updated 2026-09-29

Open your community’s **Members** section to invite people and manage access. Owners and instructors can invite ordinary members to a free community. Only the owner can invite or appoint instructors and moderators.

## Create an invitation link

1. Open **Invite people to your community** in Members, or use **Invite members** at the top of the workspace.
2. If you are the owner, choose **Access granted**. Use **Member** for learners. Instructor and moderator invitations grant staff access, so share them only with your teaching team.
3. Enter an **Invite label** to help you recognize the link later.
4. Choose an expiry of one, seven, or thirty days and set **Maximum joins**.
5. Select **Create invitation link**, then copy and share the generated URL privately.

Copy the full link when it appears; it is not displayed again in the saved invitation list. Invitations are links you share yourself. Creating one does not email it to learners.

Use **Active invitations** to review links and **Revoke invitation** to stop further joins. Revoking a link does not remove people who already joined. If a link expires or reaches its join limit, create a new one.

## Choose the right role

- **Owner:** manages the whole community, public profile, membership options, and staff appointments. The owner cannot remove or demote themselves.
- **Instructor:** manages settings, spaces, events, resources, ordinary members, and moderation. Instructors cannot appoint staff or change the owner or other staff members.
- **Moderator:** reviews reports and can pin, close, hide, and restore conversations. This role does not grant general community settings or billing control.
- **Member:** participates in discussions, replies, RSVPs to events, and reports content.

Roles belong to this community. They do not grant access to another community, a workshop classroom, or explainx administration.

## Manage existing members and requests

Select **Manage** beside a member, choose their permitted role or access status, and select **Update member**. Owners can appoint staff here. Instructors can manage ordinary members.

If your public profile uses instructor approval, new applicants appear under **Membership requests**. Choose **Approve member** or **Decline request**.

Removing someone revokes community access and clears their event RSVPs. An old invitation cannot undo that removal. A permitted manager must restore access; paid members still need valid payment or workshop eligibility.

## Invite people to a paid community

Ordinary member invitations are not available for paid communities. Share the public profile so learners can use its payment or eligible workshop options. The owner can still create staff invitations without payment. Read [paid community memberships](/help/articles/paid-community-memberships) before choosing the access model.