Managing a private community

Overview

A private community:

  • Consists of Workplace users who have been added to the community, such that people who are not members of the community* do not have access to it, and cannot see the community through their Workplace user interface.

  • Is depicted on the Communities/community listing page with a padlock icon Private community icon in its tile.

Initially, all members of a newly created private community can manage all aspects of the community. Therefore, depending on requirements, it is possible to configure permissions within a private community.

* A Workplace system administrator has access to all private communities, regardless of whether or not this person is a member of these communities.

Configuring permissions within the community

As all members of a newly created private community can initially manage all aspects of the community, a Workplace system administrator can configure permissions within the community, so that only specific Workplace users (called managers and who are not Workplace system administrators), retain full control within the community.

Workplace users who are managers of a private community (which initially includes all members of the community until permissions are configured), have manager-level access within the community.

Once permissions have been configured, however, Workplace users (without manager-level access in the community), can no longer:

If you created a private community and want to configure permissions within it, request that your Workplace system administrator implement these permissions for this community, which they can do by following the Configuring permissions within a private community section of the Administering Workplace guide.

As a manager of a private community (with permissions configured), any new Workplace users you add to the community will not have manager-level access to the community.

Adding new members

Only members of a private community (who are not Workplace system administrators) can access a private community in Workplace, and can see the community through the Communities page.

Only private community members with manager-level access can add new members to the community.

To add new members to a private community:

  1. Ensure you have accessed Workplace’s communities feature.

  2. Click the tile of the private community where new members will be added, to access the community’s overview page.

  3. In the Add Members section (under Members to the right of the community overview page), specify @ followed by the username of the Workplace user to add to the private community.

    If you do not see this section on the interface, then you are not a manager of this community.
  4. After selecting the user from the drop-down, click Add to add the Workplace user to the private community, which makes them a member of the community.

If permissions in the private community:

  • Have not been configured, then new members have manager-level access within the community.

  • Have been configured, then new members do not have manager-level access within the community.

Leaving the community

If you are a member of a private community and wish to leave it, you can do so from its community overview page.

To leave a private community:

  1. Ensure you have accessed Workplace’s communities feature.

  2. Click the tile of the private community you wish to leave, to access the community’s overview page.

  3. Click the Follow (or Unfollowed) button towards the top-right of the page, followed by Leave community.
    The Communities/community listing page appears and the private community you left no longer appears on this page, and as a non-member, you no longer have access to that community.

To regain access to the community, an existing member of the community with manager-level access must re-add your Workplace user account, or a Workplace system administrator could re-add your account.