Choosing who can join your hive
The Who can join setting decides how someone who is not yet a member can get into your hive. You choose one of three options: Invite only, Anyone can join or Allowed email domains only. People who are already members can always sign in, whatever you choose.
Who can do this: Admins.
Change who can join
- Open Menu > Admin > Hive.
- Stay on the Access tab.
- In the Who can join card, choose an option.
- If you chose Allowed email domains only, add your domains (see below).
- Click Save in the Unsaved changes bar at the bottom.
The three options
| Option | Who can become a member by signing in |
|---|---|
| Invite only | Only people you have invited by email. This is the default for a new hive. |
| Anyone can join | Anyone who signs in on your hive’s sign-in page. |
| Allowed email domains only | Anyone whose email address ends in one of your allowed domains. |
With every option, people you have invited by email can also join. Everyone who joins becomes a Member. An Admin can change their role afterwards. See Roles and permissions in Hives.
People always join by signing in on your hive’s own sign-in page, using one of the sign-in methods you have turned on. If no method is turned on, nobody can sign in there. See Hive settings: access, sign-in and the login page.
Invite only
Only email addresses you have invited can join. Invite people from + > Invite. See Inviting people to your hive.
Sharing your hive’s address alone doesn’t let anyone in. “Invite only” means nobody can join by themselves. It doesn’t lock out people who are already members.
Anyone can join
Anyone who signs in on your hive’s sign-in page becomes a Member. Use this only if you are happy for anyone with the address to join.
Allowed email domains only
Anyone whose email address ends in a domain on your list becomes a Member on their first sign-in. This is the usual choice for a company: add yourcompany.com, and all your colleagues can join without an invite.
To add a domain:
- Select Allowed email domains only. The Allowed domains box appears.
- Type a domain, for example
yourcompany.com. - Choose Add “yourcompany.com”.
- Click Save.
To remove a domain, click the x on its tag, then click Save.
Things to know about domains:
- Type only the part after the @. A leading @ is removed for you.
- The match is exact.
yourcompany.comdoes not includeuk.yourcompany.com. Add each domain you need. - Domains are not checked or verified. If you add a public domain such as
gmail.com, anyone with a Gmail address can join. - For people who sign in with Microsoft, Hives checks the domain of their Microsoft sign-in name.
- The list is kept if you switch to another option, but it has no effect then.
Good to know: email invites work with every option. If you use Allowed email domains only, you can still let in someone from outside your domains by inviting them from + > Invite.
What people see on the Hives page
After signing in, people can open the Hives page from their profile menu. Under Recommended, it lists the hives they are allowed to join:
- hives set to Anyone can join;
- hives set to Allowed email domains only that list their email domain;
- any hive that has invited their email address, whatever its Who can join option.
Clicking a hive opens its sign-in page. They sign in there to join. See Joining a hive and switching between hives.
Common questions
Someone gets “You don’t have access to this hive”. Why?
Their email address doesn’t meet your Who can join rule and hasn’t been invited. Check which option you use, and whether their domain is on the list or their address was invited. Also check they typed the email address they were invited with. See Trouble signing in.
Will changing this setting lock out existing members?
No. Existing members can always sign in. The setting only affects people who are not yet members.
Can I stop one person from signing in?
Not from this setting. Removing someone from your hive is done by Hives. See Removing someone from your hive.