# Manage portal members, access and moderation

> Decide who can read and take part, approve members, and keep discussions healthy.

A portal can be open to everyone or limited to the people you approve. Access lives on the portal's **Settings** tab, members on its **Members** tab, and moderation in **Content**.

## Access settings

In **Settings** → **Access**:

| Setting | Options | New portals start with |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who can read | **Anyone** with the address, or **Members only** | **Anyone** |
| Who can take part | **Anyone**, without signing in, or **Signed-in members** | **Signed-in members** |
| How people join | **Open**, **Approval**, **Invite only** or **Closed** | **Open** |

**Who can take part** applies where a collection lets visitors post, reply or vote. **How people join** applies when someone signs in for the first time:

- **Open:** anyone can sign in and become a member.
- **Approval:** new members wait until your team approves them.
- **Invite only:** only people your team invites can sign in.
- **Closed:** nobody new can join, and existing members keep access.

**Allowed email domains** limits who can join to people with those email domains, such as acme.com. Existing members can still sign in. Leave it empty to allow any domain. Active members of **Trusted portals** join without approval and keep their name and avatar. You can add up to 50 of each.

Members-only portals are never shown to search engines.

## How members sign in

Members enter their email address and get a 6-digit code, plus a link that signs them in. The code works for 10 minutes and allows 5 wrong tries, and a new code can be sent after 60 seconds. New members then choose a **Display name** and an optional picture, or select **Skip for now**.

- A sign-in lasts 30 days on that device.
- Members change their name and picture on their account page, and can select **Sign out on all devices** there.
- The sign-in screen answers the same way whether or not someone may join, so nobody can use it to find out who is a member.

## Manage members

On the **Members** tab:

- Search by name or email, and filter by status. The **Activity** column shows when each person was last seen.
- **Invite member** adds someone by **Email** and **Name**, and emails them an invitation with a sign-in link. Invited people join as active members, even when the portal needs approval or is invite-only.
- **Approve** lets in someone who is **Waiting for approval**.
- **Suspend** stops someone posting, replying and voting, and reading a members-only portal. **Restore** gives that back.
- **Remove** deletes the membership. Their posts and replies stay, and they can join again unless the portal is invite-only or closed.

## Moderate posts and replies

**Content** → **Moderation** collects everything that needs a look:

- **Waiting for review:** new posts in collections with **Review new posts** turned on. **Publish** them, or select **Delete content** in the row menu.
- **Open reports:** items and replies visitors reported as **Spam**, **Wrong**, **Outdated**, **Offensive** or **Other**. Select **Resolve** once you've dealt with a report.
- **Recent replies:** **Hide** a reply to take it off the portal, **Show** to bring it back, or select **Delete reply** in the row menu.

You can also hide or delete replies from an item's **Discussion** card in **Content**.

## Related

- [Set up a community or ideas board](https://support.help.ai/portals/set-up-a-community-or-ideas-board)
- [Follow posts and email updates](https://support.help.ai/portals/follow-posts-and-email-updates)

<Tip>
For a private beta community, combine **Members only** with **Invite only**, then add each tester from the **Members** tab.
</Tip>