# Invite staff

> PositiveForm guide · Staff · STAFF-001
> Canonical page: https://positiveform.com/guides/staff/invite-staff/
> This Markdown: https://positiveform.com/guides/staff/invite-staff.md

**Summary:** Add a staff profile, choose work locations, assign roles, and send an invitation. The staff profile is created once and its invitation state is visible.  
**Who can do this:** Studio owners, Organization owners  
**Required access:** `organization.owner`  
**Where in PositiveForm:** `/settings/staff`  
**Status:** Verified on 2026-07-29 against PositiveForm build `9096f81`.

## Who this is for

This guide is for the **organization owner**: the only person who can add staff
to the console.

**Add staff** appears on the Staff page only for an owner. Everyone else sees
the staff list without it.

## Before you begin

- Have the person's email address. That is what the invitation goes to, and it
  is the only required field.
- Decide what they should be able to reach. Roles are easier to maintain than
  one-off grants, so set those up first in **Settings › User roles**; see
  [Manage reusable roles](https://positiveform.com/guides/roles/manage-user-roles/).
- Decide their home location, if you have more than one. It preselects the
  workspace that opens for them; it does not limit what they can do.

## Steps

1. Click **Settings** in the left navigation, then click **Staff**. The list
   shows each person with their **Work locations**, **Permissions**, and
   **Status**.
2. Click **Add staff** in the top right. **Add staff · Step 1 of 4** opens.
3. Type the person's **Email**. Fill in **Name (optional)** if you want the list
   to show a name before they accept.
4. Click **Continue**. Step 2 asks what they can reach.
5. Under **Roles**, tick any roles that apply. Their permissions add together, so
   a person can hold several. If you have not made any roles yet, PositiveForm
   says so and the person starts view-only.
6. Under **Direct grants**, tick anything this one person needs that no role
   covers. A permission already coming from a role is ticked and greyed with
   **via role**, so you cannot grant the same thing twice. Use direct grants
   sparingly; a permission several people need belongs in a role.
7. Click **Continue**. Step 3 asks for a **Home location**. Choose one, or
   **No home location**. This preselects their workspace and form location; it
   is not a permission boundary.
8. Click **Continue**. Step 4 summarises the person, their roles, their direct
   grants, and their home location. Check it.
9. Click **Add staff**.

**Back** returns to the previous step with your answers intact, and **Cancel**
closes without creating anything.

## Expected outcome

PositiveForm confirms with **Staff profile created and invitation email sent**,
and the person appears in the staff list with their permissions and invitation
state visible.

The profile is created once. If the invitation email fails to send, the profile
still exists and PositiveForm tells you so, so a retry never produces a second
record for the same person.

They reach the console by accepting the invitation and signing in with that
email address. Everything you set here can be changed afterwards from their
profile; see [Maintain a staff profile](https://positiveform.com/guides/staff/maintain-staff-profile/).

## Screenshots

![Step 2 of 4, with Roles above Direct grants and each permission described](https://positiveform.com/guides/media/STAFF-001/20260729T014500Z/003-add-staff-step-2.webp)

![Step 4 of 4, summarising the person, roles, direct grants, and home location before anything is created](https://positiveform.com/guides/media/STAFF-001/20260729T014500Z/004-add-staff-step-4-review.webp)

## Recovery

If the email is rejected, the field itself says what is wrong. Correct it and
click **Continue** again.

If adding fails, PositiveForm shows **Could not invite that staff member.** with
the reason, and nothing is created. The most common reason is that the email
already belongs to a staff profile in this organization; open that profile
instead of making a second one.

If you see **Staff profile created, but the invitation email was not
delivered.**, the person exists but has no invitation. Open their profile from
the staff list and retry from there. Do not run **Add staff** again for the same
email.

If **Add staff** is not on the page, you are not an organization owner. Ask one
to add the person.

To stop without creating anything, click **Cancel**.

## Related guides

- [Manage reusable roles](https://positiveform.com/guides/roles/manage-user-roles/) — build the reusable roles you tick
  in step 5, before inviting anyone.
- [Maintain a staff profile](https://positiveform.com/guides/staff/maintain-staff-profile/) — change someone's identity, work
  locations, or member link after they exist.

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Source: PositiveForm customer guides, https://positiveform.com/guides/. 
Every guide as one file for AI assistants: https://positiveform.com/llms-full.txt. 
Guide index: https://positiveform.com/llms.txt.