# Invite learners and manage community roles

Written by Geeta Thakker
Updated 2026-10-04

Open **Community menu → Members** from the three-dot menu beside your community name 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 choose **Community menu → Invite members**.
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 edit another staff member’s role through Manage; separate moderation controls let them act on lower-ranked moderators or members.
- **Moderator:** reviews reports, pins, closes, hides, and restores conversations, and can mute, kick, ban, or report ordinary members. 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**.

Setting access to removed revokes community access and clears event RSVPs. An old invitation or classroom bulk add cannot undo that removal. The separate moderation menu offers **Mute**, **Kick (can rejoin)**, and **Ban from community**. **Lift ban** permits rejoining without automatically restoring membership; paid members still need valid payment or workshop eligibility. Follow [Moderate members in a teacher community](/help/articles/moderate-community-members) for those controls.

## Add workshop students

An assigned classroom instructor or admin who owns or teaches in this community can add a run’s current students to it, provided the community is free. Existing members keep their roles and removed members stay removed. Use [Connect your classroom to a community](/help/articles/connect-classroom-communities) for the sidebar action or [Move classroom students](/help/articles/move-classroom-students) for learning tags and optional email.

## 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.