Overview

monday.com makes it easy to bring in external collaborators like clients, freelancers, and partners—without compromising control or visibility. With guest access, you can keep communication centralized while protecting sensitive data.

This article walks you through how to invite external users, manage their permissions, and collaborate effectively with guests in monday.com.

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👥 Who Is Considered a Guest?

A guest is someone outside your organization’s domain (e.g., using a Gmail or non-company email address) who can be invited to specific boards.

Examples:

• Clients reviewing project progress
• Freelancers submitting deliverables
• Vendors or contractors participating in workflows

🔐 Guests have limited access—ideal for controlled collaboration.

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✉️ How to Invite Guests to a Board

You can invite guests to Shareable Boards only.

Steps:

1. Go to the board you want to share
2. Click the “Share” button in the top right corner
3. Enter the guest’s email address
4. Choose “Invite as guest”
5. Send the invite

📌 Only users outside your organization’s email domain will be added as guests.

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📋 What Guests Can See and Do

Capability	Guest Access
View board items	✅ Yes
Comment in updates	✅ Yes
Upload files	✅ Yes
Change column values (if permitted)	✅ Yes
Create new items	✅ If granted permission
Access other boards	❌ No
View dashboards	✅ Only those shared with them
Automations	✅ Will run, but guests can’t edit them

🎯 Guests can collaborate, but only within the board(s) you give them access to.

🔐 Best Practices for Secure Collaboration

1. Use Shareable Boards Only

• Keep guest interactions isolated from private or company-wide boards
• Create dedicated boards for each client/project if needed

2. Limit Column Permissions

• Lock sensitive columns (e.g., budget, internal notes)
• Set columns to read-only for guests

3. Use Item Permissions

• Restrict guests to only see or edit their assigned tasks
• Great for freelancers or external reviewers

4. Enable Board Permissions

• Control who can add/edit/delete items or structure
• Allow guests to collaborate without modifying layouts

🔍 Review board permissions regularly to ensure data is protected.

💬 Communicate Using Updates and Files

Keep communication centralized in the Updates section of each item.

• Mention guests with @guestname
• Upload project files and attachments
• Use threads to keep conversations organized

📎 No need to rely on outside email threads or chat apps.

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📅 Use Views and Dashboards to Share Progress

Guests can see:

• Calendar views of deadlines
• Gantt or Timeline views for project schedules
• Dashboards (if explicitly shared with them)

📊 Visual views help clients and freelancers quickly understand timelines and status.

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⚙️ Automate Workflows (Even with Guests)

Guests trigger automations like:

• “When item status changes to Done, notify guest”
• “When item is created by guest, assign to team lead”

🤖 Automations streamline hand-offs between internal and external contributors.

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🧠 FAQs

Do guests count toward our monday.com user limit?
No! monday.com allows up to 4 guests per paid seat at no additional cost.

Can guests access multiple boards?
Yes, but only those they are explicitly invited to.

Can guests be assigned to tasks?
Yes. Guests can be assigned using the People column and receive notifications like regular users.

Can I remove a guest later?
Yes. Go to Admin > Users or the board’s Share settings to remove or block guest access.

What happens when a guest replies via email?
Their replies will appear directly in the Updates section of the relevant item.

✅ Summary

Task	Recommended Practice
Add clients or freelancers	Use guest invitations on shareable boards
Control access	Use board, item, and column permissions
Collaborate	Communicate in updates, assign tasks, use @mentions
Visualize progress	Share timelines, calendars, and dashboards
Protect sensitive info	Lock or hide internal data from guests