The Contact Invitations feature streamlines the process of inviting contacts to collaborate on a system record through an email invitation. Both existing system contacts and people external to the system can be invited. Invited contacts choose to accept or decline the invitation to associate themselves with the record. When a contact who is not yet registered in the system accepts an invitation, they are redirected to a signup page created by the organization, where they complete their registration and receive the roles needed to participate.
Who: Global administrators and users who invite contacts from a record.
When to Use Contact Invitations
Use Contact Invitations when:
- Adding an external reviewer or collaborator to a specific record without creating their account in advance.
- Bringing an existing system contact onto a record in a defined role.
- Letting invited people self-register through a signup page when they accept.
- Coordinating participation across organizations, where invitees confirm involvement by accepting or declining.
How Contact Invitations Work
Contact Invitations move through templates, statuses, and security settings that together determine how a contact is invited, responds, and gains access to a record.
Invitation Templates
An invitation template defines the content and behavior of an invitation, including the signup page that new contacts are directed to, the roles assigned on acceptance, the email subject and body, and the landing, acceptance, and decline pages. Administrators configure templates at Level 1. Level 2, or Level 3 and must activate them before they become available in the live instance.
The Invitation Lifecycle
After the inviting user adds a contact to the invitation form, the invitation moves through a series of statuses. Saving the form sets the status to Draft. Sending the invitation sets the status to Invited. The invitation can be re-sent while in the Invited status. When the contact responds, the status reflects their acceptance or decline. Canceling an invitation or a prior acceptance sets the status to Cancelled.
Cancel or Remove Invitations and Acceptances
The Cancel Invite option cancels an invitation that has not yet been accepted, sets the status to Cancelled, and notifies the contact when they next attempt to respond.
The Revoke Invite option removes a contact who has already accepted, sets the status to Removed, removes the contact from the record's Contacts section, and sends an automated email if the Revoke Invite email settings are configured on the template.
The Remove Invite option cancels the invite that has been saved and is in Draft status. Since the invite was never sent, the Remove Invite option will delete the record.
Display Invitations
By default, invitations appear in the left navigation panel of a record. Invitations can be displayed on the main record using the Special - Linked Record List custom field.
Invitation Data
The list of invitations can be retrieved with list syntax, which makes invitee details such as name, email, role, status, and response time available for use elsewhere in the system.
Security Implications
The UTA/module security settings and the Invitation standard field govern visibility and functionality of the Invitation tab on a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 record. A role sees the Invitation tab only when the Enable Invitation security setting and the Invitation standard field permit it. The end user must also have access to at least one invitation template.
Field-level permissions control which roles can cancel invitations, and which can access the Import Wizard. Role restrictions on the Contacts field can also affect visibility. Role restrictions on the Contacts field can also affect visibility. If a role is restricted, the list of available roles will not include it.
Resources
For more information about Contact Invitations, see: