Can Non-Team Members See/Interact with Cards?

[Robbie Gutierrez]

I'm just setting up Trello for my school. I know everyone on our Trello Team can see the Team-Visible Boards. Can people who are NOT on our Trello Team see my Team's Board, List and Card when I @Name them in a Checklist? So they're not a Team member of my Trello Team, but they have a Trello account (and work at the same school). Can they see the Card after I @Name them? Get notifications? Write Comments in the Activity section of the Card and check the box as done on the Checklist item? Thanks!

[Soumyadeep Mandal · Accepted solution]

Hi @Robbie Gutierrez ,

Welcome to the community!

As far as my information, you can't mention anyone on a Trello board if the person is not a member of the board. So the person can't see the card... won't get any notification etc. 

Note make sure your board was private and only visible to team members.

For more information on permissions: https://help.trello.com/article/791-changing-permissions-on-a-board

[Robbie Gutierrez]

Soumyadeep:

Thank you for the reply. But based on the article you sent, if I make team ABC and want to invite someone who is XYZ (not on Team ABC but at the same school), that XYZ person will be a Guest. The Article you linked says:

Guest - A normal member on the board. The user is however not a member of the team that the boards belongs to.

Commenting permissions

Members - Allow admins and normal members to comment. This is the default setting.

So that means that this XYZ person who is a Guest is like a Normal member, correct? Or am I missing something? Thank you!

Robbie

[Esme Crutchley · Accepted solution]

Hi @Robbie Gutierrez 

Welcome to the Community!

Ok, let me see if I have this right!

You have a team with XYZ people.

You have boards within that team that you want other people (not in the team) to be able to interact with?

If that's the case, you could add them to the boards, rather than the team.

E.g. if you have a team of you, Bob, Phil and Fred - all of you have access to all boards within the team. But you want Jessica to be able to see Board A and interact with it - add Jessica to the board. On another board within the team, Board B, you want Peter to be able to interact, add him just to that board. On Board C you want Patrick and Emma to be able to interact, so you add them to the board. None of this involves adding them to the overarching XYZ Team.

Does that make any sense at all or am I talking in jibberish?!

Let me know if it makes sense, I'll try again if I'm explaining it in a totally rubbish way!

Esme :)

[Esme Crutchley]

However, if you're using Trello Business Class, please be mindful that if you're adding individual members to more than 1 board, they will be classed as multi-board guests and you will be charged for them - thought I should point that out!

[Robbie Gutierrez]

Hi Esme:

Yes, that's precisely what I want to do. I'm not sure how this works - can you see the answer Soumyadeep sent me? He's saying I can't, but the Help article he links says:

Guest - A normal member on the board. The user is however not a member of the team that the boards belongs to.

Commenting permissions

Members - Allow admins and normal members to comment. This is the default setting.

So that means that this XYZ person who is a Guest is like a Normal member, correct? Or is it just that they have commenting permissions but don't get notified?  Or am I missing something?

I so appreciate your insight. I have to present Trello to my department on Thursday and explain how it works- thank you for helping me sound like I know what I'm doing!

Robbie

[Esme Crutchley]

Hi Robbie!

Can you let me know if you're using a Free Team or a Business Class Team, because there are different 'rules' for each one, and I don't want to give you the wrong info!

Esme :)

[Robbie Gutierrez]

Esme:

I'm using the Free version. Thanks.

Robbie

[Esme Crutchley]

Hi @Robbie Gutierrez 

Thanks for letting me know!

In that case, you could have a couple of people on the 'Team' because they'd be able to be admin for the whole team (assuming you use free teams with a max 10 boards), and then add individuals to the boards you want them to be able to comment and work on, without adding them to the overall Team.

For example, I have a 'Family Team' - I'm the only Team Member because all the boards are shared with my Mother and Husband - neither of whom have the first clue how to use Trello and know that they will do something wrong! So I am the only 'team member' but they are members of all the boards. 

When Trello changed the admin rights for free teams, meaning that anyone who was part of a free team, could change everything and even upgrade to Business Class, as a family, we made the decision to remove them from the team but leave them on the boards, because team members now have so much power. This now includes the ability to upgrade the whole team to Business Class, which in my case would cost $129 x 3 - not something that I'm prepared to pay as I already have Business Class for myself and my husband.

If you have a few 'Team Members' of a free team, this ensures that if people are on holiday or sick, there should always be someone around to sort things out. Having people only on the specific boards that they need, means that there isn't a worry that someone is going to do something that they shouldn't!

So, pick the people that you trust to be able to run the team, then add anyone you want to the individual boards. When you add them to the boards, they'll be able to comment and you'll be able to @ mention them. They don't need to be part of the 'team' just have a Trello account!

You could even go as far as to add everyone in the school to the individual boards (just not the overarching team - because that would give them all admin capabilities over the team, which isn't a good thing IMHO, but that's just me)!

Basically, add whoever you want to a board (they don't even have to be in your organisation, they just need a Trello account), they'll have all the capabilities to be able to comment, you can mention them, they can tick things off checklists and everything else that you want, without being a 'team member'.

I hope that's helpful!

Please come back if I've not answered the question as fully as you would like or if I've been unclear about anything or you need anything further, that's what the Community is here for!

Esme :)

[Robbie Gutierrez]

Thank you, Esme, that's very helpful!

Robbie