# Inviting Outside Guests to a Comm Pro Channel

_Comm Pro (Team Chat)_

Bring a client, partner or vendor into a shared channel without giving them a CRMown seat. You invite them by email; they verify with a link and chat in that one channel only. From the same place you can see who has joined, re-send an invite whose link has expired, and remove a guest.

## Steps
1. Go to Comm Pro and open a shared channel (the Shared section in the chat sidebar). No shared channel yet? Click the "+" next to Shared, name it (e.g. client-acme) and create it.
2. Click the invite icon (person with a +) in the channel header. Or open the channel's settings (gear icon) and click "Invite guest" in the Guests section.
3. Enter the guest's email address and, if you like, their name, then click Send invite.
4. The guest gets an email with a "Verify & Join Channel" link. The link works for 48 hours. Once they click it they can read and post in this channel only.
5. The guest list shows each person's status: Joined, Invite pending, or Link expired.
6. To re-send an invite, click the circular-arrow icon next to the guest. This sends a fresh 48-hour link and replaces the old one.
7. To remove a guest, click the remove icon next to them and confirm. They lose access right away. You can invite them again later and that turns their access back on.

## Tips
- If you invite an email address that isn't a contact yet, CRMown creates the contact for you, tagged "shared-chat".
- Inviting someone who is already on the channel does not add a duplicate. It sends them a fresh link instead.
- A guest whose link expired can also click "Email me a new link" on the expired-link page. A guest you removed cannot do this, only you can let them back in.
- After verifying, a guest stays signed in to the chat for 30 days.
- In a sandbox, invite emails are captured in the sandbox's intercepted emails instead of being delivered.

## Example
An agency PM creates #client-acme as a shared channel and invites Acme's two stakeholders by email. One verifies the same day. The other is travelling and their link expires, so the guest list shows "Link expired". The PM clicks re-send and the stakeholder joins that evening. When the engagement ends, the PM removes both guests and the channel history stays with the agency.

## Troubleshooting
- **Clicking Send invite shows "Pro plan or higher required"** — Inviting outside guests to Comm Pro channels needs the Pro plan or higher, even if Comm Pro is otherwise active. Fix: An owner or admin can upgrade in Settings > Billing. The error message has a See plans link.
- **The guest says the invite never arrived** — The email went to spam, the address was mistyped, or the send failed. If the send failed, CRMown says so right after you click Send invite. Fix: Ask them to check spam, confirm the address in the guest list, then click re-send next to their name.
- **The guest's link says it has expired** — Invite links last 48 hours. Fix: Click re-send next to the guest, or ask them to click "Email me a new link" on the expired-link page.
- **I don't see a Guests section in channel settings** — Guests can only be added to shared channels. Regular public and private channels are for your own team. Fix: Create a shared channel from the "+" next to Shared in the chat sidebar and invite the guest there.

## Plans
Comm Pro suite required. Inviting outside guests needs the Pro plan or higher (Pro, Max or Custom).