🪢 Would you like to invite your external users and collaborate with them? Then take a look at the awork Connect article here.
How does awork Connect work?
With the help of awork Connect, a user can gain access to a project in another workspace. This person is invited to the workspace as an external user and thus has access to the project. The shared project is then displayed in the external user's workspace. This means that the external person must have a workspace in order to gain access to the shared project. The external person receives further information about awork Connect and how to proceed after the invitation when invited to projects.
☝️ Important: awork Connect is designed for collaborating with external users. Therefore, it is not possible to invite your own colleagues to projects via awork Connect. They must have a license in your workspace. This restriction is based on the domain of the workspace creator. Are there valid reasons why you would like to invite your colleagues to your projects via awork Connect? Please contact our support for assistance. We will review your request individually.
Accept invitation
If someone invites you to a project as an external person, you will receive an invitation link by email. If you already have an awork account and therefore also a workspace, the project will be displayed in your existing workspace once you have accepted the invitation. If you have several workspaces linked to your account, you can select the workspace in which the shared project should be displayed (only one workspace possible).
☝️Hint: The decision as to which workspace the shared project should be displayed in CANNOT be reversed, i.e. the project cannot be moved to another workspace. Alternatively, the admin can remove the external person from the workspace and add them again. However, we would only recommend this if the external person has not yet been “used” often, e.g. if they have not yet been assigned to any or only a few tasks in the project, etc.
Basic Connect Plan
If you did not yet have an awork subscription and you have been added to a project as an external person, you will automatically receive the Basic Connect Plan for your workspace. This plan is free of charge and includes the same functions as the Basic Plan, with a few exceptions.
☝️🔐 Note: The data importer is currently not available in the Basic Connect plan.
You can have as many external projects as you like in your workspace with the Basic Connect plan, but only one project that you have created yourself. If you want to create another project, you have the option of starting the 14-day free trial version, which maps the Business Plan (Business Plan Features). You can then create a total of two projects of your own. After the 14-day trial expires, you can either book awork or go back to the Basic Connect Plan. The data, i.e. the second project you have created, will then remain in the workspace.
Trial/ awork subscription from the past
If you have already tested awork free of charge for 14 days in the past and now your external project is being shared with you, awork will ask you whether you would like to switch to the Basic Connect plan or book an awork subscription.
If you already had an awork subscription but it is no longer active, you will not be able to use the external project in the Basic Connect plan. You will then have to reactivate the subscription.
Searching in awork as an external Connect user (Basic Connect Plan)
awork's standard search criteria apply to content from your own workspace that does not belong to external projects. You can find out more about this in this article.
External users can also find all content to which the user is connected from their own workspace based on their permissions. This means that content from external projects to which you have access can also be found here.
An external project in my workspace
The logo of the workspace in which the project was initially created is displayed at the bottom right of the external project image.
The External projects also appear as a menu item in the main menu on the left. All external projects are displayed below.
The external project is displayed in the main menu, in the project overview and in the dashboard filters.
☝️Hint: The project, the project tasks and the project members do NOT appear as search results when searching in awork.
If there are other external users on this project, I can view them all as an external person.
If I track time on the project or the project tasks as an external person, the tracked time belongs to the other workspace. I can see the time in the menu on the left under “Times”, but not in the time reports section.
As an external person, you do not have access to the workload section (business plan feature).
You can schedule tasks in your calendar, but this has no effect on the workspace in which the project was initially created.
As an external user, you can mention the other project members in the comments.
As an external user, I can only create a single project of my own, see above. I can create as many private tasks as I like but it is not possible to add other users to my private tasks.
An external person does not have access to the project settings.
Frequently asked questions
Can I invite my own colleagues to my projects using awork Connect?
You cannot invite colleagues to projects through awork Connect, as it is meant for collaborating with external users. They must have a license in your workspace. This restriction is based on the domain of the workspace creator. Are there valid reasons why you would like to invite your colleagues to your projects via awork Connect? Please contact our support for assistance. We will review your request individually.
What are the differences between "normal" Users and Connect users?
The following actions are ONLY possible for users with a full awork license.
Advantages: Users with a full license can ...
be selected in task filters
be used in the planner for capacity planning
be designated as project manager
create several new projects
be added to teams
be filtered in the time evaluation
be selected as a user for automations
Can a person with a full awork license be migrated to an external person?
No, unfortunately this is not possible.
How does awork Connect work if, for example, clients are not yet using awork?
They will receive an invitation by e-mail and will then be asked to register with awork and create their own workspace, in which the shared projects will then be displayed.
What happens to the previous guest licenses?
In the future, these will be completely replaced by external persons. At the moment, both options are still available. Existing guests can be migrated to external persons at any time, see here.
Can external persons access the planner?
Yes, but they will only see themselves as a user and only the shared project and their own projects.
Is awork Connect automatically available to me or do I have to book it?
awork Connect is available to every awork customer, regardless of the plan. Nothing needs to be added and there are no extra costs.
Does the external person in the shared project also see all other users?
Yes.
Do the automations also work with external persons?
The external persons themselves cannot be selected as users in the automation, but they can be selected via the project-based permission role.
Can external persons also be included in API integrations?
External persons are listed when creating integrations via our API and can therefore also be selected. They are also marked as “external”.
Why can't I see the external person under the “User” menu item?
You do not see the person because they are not a fully-fledged user in your workspace. If you go to the settings in the shared project, you will see all project members there, with information on which people are external. The project-based permission role can also be adjusted there.
Can users with the same email domain be invited as external persons?
You cannot invite users with the same email domain to projects through awork Connect, as it is meant for collaborating with external users. They must have a license in your workspace. This restriction is based on the domain of the workspace creator. Are there valid reasons why you would like to invite your colleagues to your projects via awork Connect? Please contact our support for assistance. We will review your request individually.
Can I share any number of projects with an external person?
You can invite external persons to any number of projects, there is no limit.
What rights does an external person have on the shared project?
After inviting the person, an external project-based permission role can be selected, see permission management. An external person cannot be granted editing rights in the project details.
Where are the external person's times tracked?
The times are tracked in the workspace in which the released project was initially created.
Can the external person evaluate the tracked times in their own workspace under “Time reports”?
The external person will then see the time in the menu on the left under “Times”, but not in the time reports section.
Can other users track time for an external person?
No, this is not possible.
How is data protection guaranteed?
We can guarantee data protection because external users are not connected to the workspace, but really only to the project.
What do external people see in the other workspaces?
Invited users can only ever see the external project. The connection does not exist between the workspace and the external person. It only establishes a connection between the user and the external project.
What users can see or do within the project depends on the project-based permission role.
However, external people see tasks and times on their dashboard, filters etc. from the external project and also receive notifications as long as the connection is active, even though this does not belong to their own workspace.
Does it cost anything to integrate external users into the workspace?
You can invite external users, just like guests in the past, without making them part of your workspace. There are no costs involved.
Can I invite users to the Basic Connect plan?
This is possible if you book awork and thus one of the Basic, Business or Enterprise plans for a fee.
Who can invite external persons?
People who have editing rights for projects can add external people to projects.