Guest Users
Guest users in Statusbrew are people outside your team, such as clients, partners or legal reviewers, who review and approve your posts without taking up a user seat. They sign in with their email address and see only the posts sent to them.
This guide shows what guest users can do, what they can't, and how to manage them.
Who Are Guest Users?
An Owner can add guest users in Settings → Users. Someone also becomes a guest user when you enter their email in an approval workflow step or invite them to a shared link.
What Guest Users Can Do
Review posts: See the posts sent to them for approval on their own approvals page.
Approve or reject: Approve a post or Post Group, or reject it with an optional comment.
Suggest edits: Suggest caption changes on a post that is awaiting approval.
Comment: Leave feedback and reply to external comments on posts shared with them.
Work in shared projects: Post and comment in a project's Updates section when you add them as recipients on the project's shared link, and add assets to its Assets section when the link allows guest uploads.
Get notified: Receive emails for approval requests, and for external comments when they're tagged or added as watchers.
What They Can't Do
Use your workspace: They can't access your dashboard, compose posts or publish content.
Change a post directly: They can't open a post in your workspace, edit it, reschedule it or approve posts in bulk.
See other content: They only see what is explicitly shared with them.
Use other features: Everything else in Statusbrew needs a full user seat.
Who Can Do This?
Plan: Guest users and approval workflows are available on Premium and above plans.
Owners: Only the Primary Owner and Owners add guest users and see the Guest tab in Settings → Users, where guests are managed.
Admins: Add guests by entering their email in an approval workflow step.
Team members with Create Post permission: Send posts to a workflow that includes guests. Team members with Full Publishing permission can do this too.
Guest users: Review, approve, reject, suggest edits and comment on the posts sent to them.
Add Guest Users
Go to Settings → Users.
Click the arrow next to Add users and select Add guest user.
Enter the person's Email and click Add.
You can also add a guest while you work:
Approval workflow: Enter their email under Approvers in a workflow step. See how to add external approvers to an approval workflow.
Shared link: Enter their email in Add recipients on a shared link and click Send invites.
Either way, they show up in the Guest tab in Settings → Users.
How Do Guest Users Log In?
Guests sign in at external.statusbrew.com with the email address you added to the workflow. They don't need a Statusbrew user seat.
The emails Statusbrew sends them contain magic links. Clicking one logs the guest straight in, so they can go from the email to the post in one click.
How Do Guest Users Review Posts?
Posts waiting for a guest's approval appear on their external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com). From their dashboard, they click Review and approve content from your organization.
Open the link in the approval email, or sign in at external.statusbrew.com.
Pick Classic view or Table view at the top right. The browser remembers the choice.
Click Approve to approve a post, or Reject to send it back.
When rejecting, you can add a comment explaining why. The comment is optional.
The external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com) has no Open, Edit or Reschedule option, and no bulk selection. Guests review, approve, reject, suggest edits and comment from this page only.
How Do Guest Users Approve a Post Group?
A post your team creates for two or more profiles is saved as a Post Group, with one post per profile, unless they picked Separate posts, in which case each post is reviewed on its own. A post for a single profile is a normal post. On the external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com), a Group shows as one block.
Approve the Group: One Approve button approves every post in the Group.
Reject the Group: One Reject button opens the Reject Group dialog. Add an optional comment and click Reject to reject every post in the Group.
Approve several Groups: When more than one Group is waiting, an Approve all banner appears at the top of Classic view. It isn't shown in Table view.
Approval is all or nothing. A guest can't approve one post inside a Group and reject another. To ask for a change to one post, use Suggest edits on that post instead.
How Do Guest Users Suggest Edits?
Guests can suggest a new caption for any single post inside a Group, as long as the post is awaiting approval.
On the external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com), find the post inside the Group.
Click Suggest edits, change the caption and send it.
The page shows Suggestion sent.
Your team sees Suggestion pending on the post, and the Group sidebar marks which post has the suggestion. If your team accepts it, that post leaves its Group and becomes a separate post. Learn more in how to suggest edits to a post awaiting approval.
What Can Guest Users Do In A Shared Project?
When you share a project with a guest, they can do more than approve posts. They can work with your team in the project's Updates and Assets sections when:
Section is shared: The section is included in the project's shared link. This applies to both sections.
Updates: The guest is a recipient. Their email is added under Add recipients on the shared link, and you clicked Send invites.
Assets: The person who shared the link turned on Allow guests to upload assets. Any signed-in guest can then add assets, recipient or not.
In the Updates Section
Updates is the project's message board. Guests who are recipients can:
Post an update: Share an update with a title, formatted text, media or a linked post.
Comment: Reply to any update, and attach an image to a comment.
React: Add an emoji reaction to an update.
Pin: Pin an important update to the top.
In the Assets Section
Assets is the project's shared library of images, videos and files. Anyone with the link can open folders and browse the assets, and guests can leave feedback on an asset.
Guests can also add their own files when the person who shared the link has turned on Allow guests to upload assets. They don't need to be recipients on the link.
Add assets as a guest
Open the project's shared link and sign in with your email address.
Go to the Assets section.
Click Add assets at the top right. The Add assets page opens and shows how much you can still upload, for example "2 MB remaining".
Drag and drop your files, or click Choose files or Choose folder. You can add up to 100 files at a time: JPEG, PNG, TIFF and GIF images, MP4 and MOV videos, and PDF, Word and PowerPoint documents.
Check the files listed under Files. Click the x next to one to drop it.
Click Upload (it shows the number of files, for example Upload 1 file). To leave without uploading, click Stop and close.
When it shows Upload complete, click Done.
Your files go into the folder the section is showing and appear at the top of the section. The team that shared the link sees them in their Asset Manager.
Delete something you uploaded
Hover over the asset in the Assets section and click Delete. You can only delete assets you uploaded yourself.
The person who shared the link can set a total upload limit for it. The Add assets page shows how much is left.
A file that would take you over the limit shows Upload failed, and the page tells you how many files uploaded and how many failed. Remove files or ask them to raise the limit, then click Retry failed.
Anyone who opens the link without being a recipient can only read updates. Uploading assets depends on the link's upload setting, not on being a recipient. Learn how to set up sections and shared links in how to use Projects.
Managing Guest Users
Once you've added guest users in Statusbrew, managing them is easy.
View and Manage Guest Users
Go to Settings → Users.
Open the Guest tab to see all guest users in your account.
Each guest user has a More (three dots) menu next to their name with two options:
View shared links: See everything shared with that guest.
Remove: Revoke their access.
View Shared Link
For each shared link, you'll see:
Title: Name of the shared item (calendar, post, report etc.)
Created time: When the link was created
Created by: The team member who shared it
Permission: For example, Public
Status: Active, or Expires on [date]
Date range: The range applied to the link, if any
At the end of each row, use the open link icon to open the shared link or the copy link icon to copy it.
This gives you full visibility into what a guest can access, who shared it, and whether each link is active or expiring.
Remove a Guest User
Click the More (three dots) menu next to a guest user's name.
Click Remove to revoke their access.
Upgrade a Guest to a Full User
If you want to bring an external approver fully into Statusbrew, click Upgrade guest to user next to their name.
This will convert them into a regular user with access to assigned permissions and will occupy a user seat.
Guest users can review, approve, reject, suggest edits, comment and work in shared project sections. They can't edit, publish or access other parts of Statusbrew unless upgraded.
Notify Guest Users
You can keep external approvers updated through notifications, without requiring them to log in or have a full Statusbrew account.
Tag Guest Users to Get Feedback
Make sure the person is already a guest user (see Add Guest Users above).
You can tag guest users in post comments to notify them.
While tagging, make sure to click the External Comment option next to Send button.
Once tagged, the guest is automatically added as a watcher of that post.
As a watcher, they will receive email notifications for all future external comments made on that post.
A Post Group has its own comments, and each post inside it has its own comments too. To get feedback on one post, open that post and tag the guest there.
Add Guest Users as Watchers
You can also manually add guest users as watchers.
Open the post.
Click the bell icon (Watchers) at the top of the post. The Add watchers window opens.
Scroll down to Guest Users section.
Finally, select the user you want to add as a Watcher and click Update.
You can also add guest users as watchers while creating a post. In Compose, click the bell icon (Watchers) in the bottom bar.
This keeps external stakeholders in the loop during content reviews, even if they haven't been tagged in comments.
Keep in mind, watchers receive email notifications only for new external comments on the post.
Remove Guest Users From Notifications
If a guest user no longer needs to receive notifications for a post:
Go to the post where they were tagged or added as a watcher.
Click on Add watchers button.
Find the guest user and remove them from the list.
Once removed, they will no longer receive email notifications for external comments on that post. This gives you full control over which guest users stay informed during your approval workflows.
Turn Off Approval Emails for a Post
Guests get an email when a post is sent to them for approval. To stop these emails for one post:
In Compose, click the Approval button in the bottom bar.
Choose Use Workflow and pick the workflow.
Turn on Suppress approval notifications for this post, then click Save.
Approvers then get no emails for that post, including the first approval request and later edits.
FAQs
Do guest users need to create an account or log in?
Guests sign in at external.statusbrew.com with the email address you added to the workflow. Links in Statusbrew emails are magic links that log them straight in. Guests never take up a user seat.
Can guest users see everything in our account?
No. Guest users can only view posts they've been invited to review. They have no access to your dashboard, calendar, or other posts unless specifically shared.
Can I manually add or invite a guest user?
Yes. Go to Settings → Users, click the arrow next to Add users, select Add guest user, enter their email and click Add. Entering a new email in an approval workflow step or inviting it to a shared link also adds that person as a guest.
Can I add guest users to a User Group?
No. Add each guest individually as an external approver in an approval workflow step.
Can my client approve one post inside a Post Group?
No. A Group has one Approve and one Reject for all its posts. To change one post, your client can use Suggest edits on that post.
Can guest users approve posts in bulk?
Guests can't tick posts and approve them in bulk. When several Groups are waiting, Approve all approves them together.
Can guest users edit or reschedule a post?
No. The external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com) has no Edit, Open or Reschedule option. Guests can suggest a new caption with Suggest edits, and your team decides whether to accept it.
Why can't my client see the Approve and Reject buttons?
Check these:
Workflow: The client's email must be an approver in the workflow, and the post must be sent to that workflow.
Current step: The client must be an approver in the step the post is waiting on.
Another approver acted: If Require approval from all is off, one approver's action completes the step and the others no longer see Approve or Reject.
Shared link: On a shared project link, invite the client's email in the link settings. Anyone else with the link can only view or comment.
How do I stop my client getting an email for every post?
Turn on Suppress approval notifications for this post in the Approval dialog in Compose. Then share one project link with all the posts waiting for their approval, and add the guest as a recipient: open the project's Shared link, click More (three dots) on the link → Edit, enter their email in Add more recipients and click Send invites.
Will guest users receive email notifications for updates?
Yes. They get emails for approval requests, and for external comments when they're tagged or added as watchers on a post.
Will my client know if their suggestion was accepted?
Yes, by email. The external approvals page (external.statusbrew.com) doesn't show whether a suggestion was accepted or declined.
Can guest users download media from a post?
No. Guests can open a post's image to see it full size, but there's no download option on posts.
Can guest users post or comment in a project's Updates?
Yes, if you add them as recipients on the project's shared link and the Updates section is included. They can post updates, comment, attach an image to a comment, react and pin. Without being a recipient, they can only read.
Can guest users upload files to a project's Assets?
Yes, when the project's shared link includes the Assets section and the person who shared it turned on Allow guests to upload assets. Guests sign in, click Add assets in the section and upload images, GIFs, videos or documents, up to 100 files at a time. They don't need to be recipients. If the option is off, guests can only browse.
Is there a limit on how much a guest can upload?
There can be. The person who shared the link can set a total upload limit in MB for everything guests upload through it. The Add assets page shows how much is left, and a file that would go over it fails to upload.
Can guests delete assets they uploaded?
Yes. Hover over the asset in the shared Assets section and click Delete. Guests can only delete their own uploads, not your team's assets.
Why don't I see Add assets on the shared link?
Check these:
You're not signed in: sign in with your email address on the shared link.
Uploads are off: the person who shared the link hasn't turned on Allow guests to upload assets. Ask them to.
Wrong section: Add assets only shows in an Assets section.
Can I remove a guest user's access?
Yes. Go to Settings → Users → Guest, click the More (three dots) menu next to their name, and select Remove.
Can a guest user be upgraded to a full user?
Yes. You can upgrade them from the Guest Users list. This will assign them a user seat and give them access based on permissions you set.
Which plan supports guest users?
Guest users are available on Premium and above plans. On these plans you can add guests to approval workflows and shareable calendars, where they approve, reject or suggest changes.