Accepting an invitation
How to join an organization from an invitation email, whether or not you already have an account.
On this page
Most people join an organization because someone there invited them. An administrator of the organization sends an invitation to your email address. The email contains a link. Opening it and accepting is how your account becomes a member.
The invitation link is the usual way in. If you are signed in to an account that has the invited address as a verified address, the invitation also appears on Memberships under Invitations to join, where you can Accept or Decline it without the link. You cannot join an organization any other way from inside your account.
Accept an invitation#
- Open the link in the invitation email. The page is titled Join an organization and says You were invited to an organization. Under it, it names what you would join: Organization: and the name, Role: and the role when the invitation carries one, and for a guest invitation the terms, such as You join as a guest, sponsored by a name for N days from the day you accept.
- Select Accept the invitation.
- What happens next depends on whether the invited address already has an account. A line under the terms tells you which case applies: Choose a password to create your account and join., Sign in to the account this invitation is for, then accept. or You are signed in as the invited account. Accept to join.
- When you are done the page says You have joined the organization. Select Continue to open your account.
- Accept the invitation.
What the page tells you before you accept#
- Organization: the organization that invited you, by its short name. Role: the role the inviter chose, shown only when there is one.
- For a guest invitation, one more line: You join as a guest, sponsored by the sponsor's name, for a number of days from the day you accept. When the invitation has no sponsor the line reads You join as a guest for that number of days from the day you accept. A guest membership is listed as Guest, with an Access ends date, on Memberships.
- A line for the next step: Choose a password to create your account and join., Sign in to the account this invitation is for, then accept., or You are signed in as the invited account. Accept to join.
If the address has no account yet#
The page says This address has no account yet. Choose a password to create one and join. Under Choose a password, enter a password and confirm it, then select Create account and join. The password must meet the platform's password rules, and a password that is known to have appeared in a data breach is refused. The page tells you what to change.
Joining this way creates your account only if the platform is open to new accounts for that address: it follows the same sign-up switch, allowed domains and daily limit as sign-up. Otherwise the link is refused. It then creates your account, marks the invited address as verified because you opened the link sent to it, and sets your password. The platform emails you a security alert that a password was set. After joining, add a passkey or an authenticator app as soon as you can; see Security and passkeys.
If the address already has an account#
The page says This address already has an account. Sign in, then open the invitation link again. Select Sign in, sign in as that account, then open the link in the email a second time and select Accept the invitation again.
You must be signed in as the account that owns the invited address. A session for a different account does not work. This stops a forwarded link from attaching someone else's account to an organization.
If the account shown is not yours, use the Sign in with another account link at the bottom of the page.