Complete guide to guest user management

Complete guide to guest user management

Guest users are external participants who can complete specific tasks in your Tallyfy processes without needing full member accounts. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about working with guests in Tallyfy.

Understanding guest users

What are guest users?

Guest users are:

• External participants who don’t need a Tallyfy account
• Unlimited and free to include in your processes
• Limited to completing only tasks assigned specifically to them
• Identified by their email address

Guests vs. members comparison

Feature	Guest Users	Regular Members
Cost	Free, unlimited	Paid, based on subscription
Account needed	No	Yes
Can create templates	No	Yes (Standard/Admin)
Can launch processes	No	Yes (with permissions)
Task visibility	Only assigned tasks	All tasks (based on role)
Process visibility	Limited to their tasks	Full process view
Authentication	Email-based link	Login credentials
Can be assigned tasks	Yes	Yes
Can create tasks	No	Yes (with permissions)

Inviting and managing guests

How to assign tasks to guests

1. In a template:

   • Select a step in your template
   • Go to the Assignment tab
   • Select “Guest” as the assignment type
   • Enter the guest’s email address

2. In an active process:

   • Navigate to the task you want to assign
   • Click Reassign
   • Select “Assign to guest”
   • Enter the guest’s email address
   • Click Save

Guest notification options

When you assign a task to a guest:

• The guest receives an email notification with a link to the task
• You can customize the email notification message
• You can set up reminder notifications for uncompleted tasks
• Guests don’t need to remember passwords or login credentials

Tracking guest progress

To monitor guest task completion:

• View the process in the Tracker view to see all task statuses
• Check the task history to see when guests accessed their tasks
• Set up email notifications to be alerted when guests complete tasks
• Use comments to communicate with guests on specific tasks

Common guest scenarios

Collecting information from customers

Use guest tasks to:

• Gather customer information via forms
• Collect document uploads
• Get approvals or signatures
• Request feedback or reviews

Involving external experts or partners

Invite external participants to:

• Provide specialized input
• Review documents or deliverables
• Approve decisions or changes
• Contribute expertise to specific steps

Onboarding new clients

Create onboarding processes that:

• Guide clients through initial setup steps
• Collect required documentation
• Provide information at each stage
• Ensure all necessary information is captured

Troubleshooting guest access issues

Guest can’t access their task

If a guest reports they can’t access their task:

1. Verify the email address is correct
2. Check if the guest email domain matches your organization’s domain (guest emails cannot be from the same domain as your company - e.g., if your company uses mydomain.com, guest emails cannot end in @mydomain.com)
3. Check if the task link has expired
4. Resend the invitation from the task view
5. Ensure the process is still active and not completed
6. Check if the task has been reassigned to someone else

Guest completed a task by mistake

If a guest mistakenly completes a task:

1. Navigate to the completed task
2. Click the Reopen option in the task menu
3. The task will return to “In Progress” status
4. The guest can then access it again to complete it properly

Changing guest email address

To change the email address for a guest:

1. Go to the task assigned to the guest
2. Click Reassign
3. Enter the new guest email address
4. Click Save
5. A new invitation will be sent to the updated email address

Security and privacy considerations

Guest data access limitations

Guests can only see:

• The specific tasks assigned to them
• Any attachments or fields within those tasks
• Comments directed to them using @mentions

Guests cannot access:

• Other tasks in the process
• Templates or organization settings
• Member information or other processes
• Historical data outside their assigned tasks

Public processes and guest visibility

Important security consideration

When a process is set to Public to the world, guest visibility changes significantly:

• Private process (default): Guests see only their assigned tasks in both Tasks view and Tracker view
• Public process: Guests can see all tasks in the Tracker/AP view, including tasks assigned to other guests or members

This means if you have multiple external guests working on different parts of a public process, they will be able to see each other’s tasks in the Tracker view. Consider keeping processes private when:

• Different external guests shouldn’t see each other’s work
• The process contains sensitive information in task titles or descriptions
• You need to maintain strict task-level access control

Best practices for guest security

• Only share necessary information in guest tasks
• Use form fields to collect specific information rather than sharing sensitive details
• Avoid including confidential information in task descriptions or attachments
• Consider setting expiration times for guest task links
• Review and delete guest access when no longer needed

Converting between guests and members

Converting a guest to a member

If a guest needs more extensive access:

1. Navigate to Settings > Members
2. Click Invite Member
3. Enter the guest’s email address
4. Select the appropriate role
5. Send the invitation

The guest will receive an invitation to create a full member account.

Converting a member to a guest

If a member should be changed to a guest:

1. Go to Settings > Members
2. Find the member you want to convert
3. Click the three dots menu and select Convert to guest
4. Confirm the change

The person will no longer have member access but can still be assigned guest tasks.

Advanced guest features

Guest form submission without task assignment

You can allow guests to submit forms without being directly assigned:

1. Create a process with a form
2. Generate a shareable link
3. Distribute the link to multiple potential respondents
4. Collect form submissions from anyone with the link

Custom branding for guest interfaces

Customize the guest experience with:

• Your organization’s logo
• Custom welcome messages
• Branded email notifications
• Customized task descriptions and instructions

By effectively managing guest users, you can include external participants in your workflows without additional cost while maintaining security and process integrity.

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