External Contributors

What is an External Contributor?

An External Contributor user role is a once-off invitation to a single project. 

Example uses:

• You can invite non-users  such as freelance writers, content, or PR agencies and allow them to view, edit and export your project, 
• You can invite an existing user who isn't on your team to view your project without having to get them added to your team.

The contributor user role is a one-off invitation to a single Content Automation project.

You can invite external contributing authors to specific projects and permit them to export if you want to. Examples of uses include inviting content and PR agencies and freelance writers.

How to Invite an External Contributor 

1. From inside your project, select project settings.
   
   
   
2. From here, you can add the emails of the external contributors you wish to add to the project.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Once you have added them, select the gear icon to edit what they can and can't do:
   
   
   
   By default, these will both be turned off, but if you want to allow this particular contributor to export, you must toggle this on.
   
   If you only want your contributor to access certain documents in your project, toggle the second toggle and then select which documents you wish for them to be able to edit:
   
   
   
   
4. Once you have set up your external contributor, they will present in a list view which also displays their name, status, who they were invited by, and what permissions they have:
   
   
   
   External contributors expire 14 days after you add them to the project. However, you can re-add them again if required. 

Things to remember:

• You should explain to a contributor exactly what you would like their input on
• An External Contributor is essentially an Author with a scaled-down range of permissions
• As a contributor, they will be able to:
  • See all Documents in the Project you have invited them to
  • Edit documents that have been approved or are unapproved
  • They will not be able to edit documents that are pending approval
  • They can edit or comment on the documents, the same as an Author can
  • They can duplicate Documents, but they cannot delete documents or the project

Supporting video tutorial

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I stop contributors from exporting? 

Yes, you can set this anytime in your project settings

Can I re-add someone who was previously a contributor on the same or another project? 

If the user has expired, you can re-add them like you did the first time.