What is "Invited" vs "guest" vs "team member".
Asked by Daniel Mario Olsson:

Hello,

I use Trello with uni.students, for PBL-projects. My question is: why do members of a board have different statuses on the "Board Members"-tab? And do these different statuses have any effect on how the board works for each student? I mean, does it affect their permissions and access to certain functions, or is there some difference in the experience of use? Since I don't have access to the student's computers, this is not something I can check by myself, and since some students are complaining about difficulties in using the board, I am trying to see if this might be the problem

The creation of the team this way: I ask for their email on the first encounter. Then I create a new board for the class from a template I have. Then I invite the students to the board by clicking the "invite" button and adding their email addresses.

I attach a screenshot of the "Board members" pane in question.

I would be thankful to anyone who could enlighten me on this topic.

best,

Daniel M?rio Olsson

![Ask Trello.jpeg](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/41045i46A450542A909BB8/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Ask Trello.jpeg")


Answers:
author: Jodi LeBlanc
body: Hi [@Daniel Mario Olsson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2476090) I found this information that you may find useful.

Types of Trello Users {#toc-hId-1850765685}
-------------------------------------------

When it comes to permissions on a board, there are different types of Trello users:

* **Invited Members** - An invited user is someone who has been invited to a board but who hasn't yet confirmed their account. Their user icon will appear to be grayed out in the Members area of the board.
* **Board Members** - A normal member is simply a member of a board.
* **Observers** - An observer is a member with read-only access to a board. (Observers are only available to teams with [Trello Business Class](https://trello.com/business-class)).
* **Team Members** - You can make a board belong to a team, so a team member is a user who belongs to the same team as the board.
* **Guest**- A normal member on the board. The user is however not a member of the team that the boards belongs to.
* **Board Admin**- A board admin is a member of the board who can do anything on the board. Board admins are marked by the blue and white chevron in the bottom right corner of their avatar.

So ultimately the invited members are those that still need to go into their email when they set up there account to confirm their trello account.

As for guests, A guest is someone who is on a board, but not on the Trello team that owns thatboard. Guests can only see the Trello board to which they are invited; they can't see any other team boards. A board member who is on one team board is a Single-Board Guest of that team. Do you happen to have additional boards that the "team members" would also have access to (now or for a previous class?)

Here is an article that talks about the permissions and access.

<https://help.trello.com/article/791-changing-permissions-on-a-board>

Please let me know if this information answers your questions.  
Thanks and have a good day,

Jodi

comments: author: Jodi LeBlanc
body: Did this answer your question [@Daniel Mario Olsson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2476090)?

Thanks,

Jodi


author: Santiago
body: [@Jodi LeBlanc](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1186643): Thank you so much for your input! This was exactly the answer I was looking for (mainly the difference between a guest and an observer). Very helpful!


author: Jodi LeBlanc
body: Thanks [@Santiago](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2621410) happy to hear I could help.  
Have a fantastic day,

Jodi


author: shelia.summers
body: You answered what I came to the community to find out as well!


author: Richard Adkins
body: Hi all

is there a way of changing guests to members?


author: Fabian K?ppen
body: Is there a way of changing a member to observer?


Tags: guest

invite

permission

team