External individuals can be added to communities, allowing them to collaborate on projects with platform users. External community members have limited, predefined permissions set by Haiilo that dictate the actions they can take on the platform. External members are unable to leave communities, further distinguishing them from regular community members.

To invite external community members, you need to be a community admin and have the "Create community", "Edit community", and "Invite external community members" permissions.

Understand the permissions

Externals added to a community always receive the External Community Member system role. This role is very strict to prevent company news and sensitive information from reaching external parties, and it cannot be edited or deleted. 

An external community member can see Communities and Events in the navigation bar. In these, they can:

• See the communities to which they have been added and access all the content within those communities. They cannot be admins of a community.
• View events hosted by the communities they are members of or to which their communities have been invited.

Invite a new external member

To invite a new external user to join a community:

1. Go to the Communities overview > select your community.
2. In Options, open the Members list.
3. Select Invite > Invite externals.
4. Enter the email addresses of the users you want to invite.
5. Select Send invite.

Invited members receive an email invitation with a registration link that is valid for 24 hours. After registering, they are automatically added to the community. Externals don't need to separately accept an invitation.

External members are identified by an "External Member" label in the community's Members list.

Add an existing external member

You can add an external user who already exists on your platform to your community. 

1. Go to the Communities overview > select your community.
2. In Options, open the Members list.
3. Select Invite > Invite members.
4. Search for and select the external user from the list.
5. Select Select.

The external user is added directly to the community without having to accept the invitation.