Bulk User Onboarding

Use Add users to bring a list of users into Clear Ideas, give them access to existing sites, and optionally create a separate site for each user. The dialog has four steps: Users, Access, Review, and Results.

Open Users and choose New User to open the Add users dialog, or start from the Users area of a site you administer. When an Account selector is available, choose the personal or organization account that will manage this batch. Available sites, groups, templates, and advanced options follow that account and your permissions.

The users table, site access, group memberships, and user tags are available on supported sharing plans. Business, Enterprise, and Custom accounts also support AI document import, individual sites, and the Advanced settings described below.

1. Users

Each user needs both a Name and a valid Email address. Names support international characters. A batch can contain up to 1,000 users.

Enter one name and email per line in Names and emails, then choose Add to list. You can also select Add a user to enter a row, or Import file to read a contact list.

The upload limit is 10 MB per file. Convert older .xls workbooks to .xlsx. PDF import reads existing text; scanned or image-only PDFs need conversion to readable text first. For a workbook with several populated worksheets, the importer uses the first and identifies it in the import message.

Imported values appear in the users table before any users are added. Edit names and emails there, review entries marked Needs attention, and use Show issues only to focus the list. Repeated email addresses are merged when lists are combined; conflicting names require confirmation. Use the page controls for long lists and Remove selected to remove unwanted rows.

Choose Continue when the list is ready.

2. Access

Existing sites

Under Existing sites, select the sites to share. Set a Permission and, optionally, Access expires for each selected site. For example, users can be Viewers on a fund site and Downloaders on a document library, with different expiry dates for each.

These selections apply to all users in the batch. Existing direct roles and expiry dates are preserved; adding an existing user again does not replace their access settings. Use Managing Users for later permission changes. Plan limits and organization policies still apply, and Review shows the resulting access.

Groups and user tags

Groups (optional) adds the listed users to selected existing groups. They inherit the site access those groups already have. This selection adds users to groups; it does not grant those groups access to another site or to newly created individual sites.

Tags (optional) labels these users within the selected administering account. User tags help organize the list and do not grant site access.

A separate site for each user

On Business or higher, enable Create a separate site for each user. Select a starting point:

• Empty site creates a site ready for content.
• Folder template creates the folder structure from an available template.
• Copy an existing site copies supported content from a site available to copy in the selected account.

Choose the user's Permission for their individual site; the default is Viewer. Copying content does not copy the source site's users or groups. Some protected or unsupported source content cannot be copied; use an available folder template or empty site instead.

Set a Site name template using the variable menu:

The supported variables are {{Name}} and {{Email}}. Check the example and generated names in Review. Each generated name must be unique in the selected account and no longer than 100 characters. If users share a name, including {{Email}} can distinguish their sites.

New site tags (optional) applies the same site labels to every site created by this batch. These are separate from user tags. Source-site tags are not automatically inherited by copied sites.

Choose Create sites as:

• Draft, the default, keeps a site available to its administrators while it is being prepared. It sends no site invitation.
• Published makes it available to users who have permission and sends pending site invitations.

Draft and Published describe site visibility. Publishing makes a site available to its authorized users; it does not make documents available to everyone on the internet. See General Site Settings.

Advanced

Business and higher accounts have two initial preferences for newly created users:

Existing users keep their profile and communication preferences. The simplified interface changes presentation, not permissions. A user can enable Show the full Clear Ideas interface in Settings > Profile whenever they want the additional tools.

3. Review

Review the users, generated site names, groups, user tags, new site tags, and Advanced settings. The existing-site summary shows effective permissions and expiry, including access inherited Via group. User counts beside an access variant identify which users receive it.

Use Back to change the list or access settings. Changes are reviewed again before submission. Select Add users to start processing the reviewed batch.

When invitations arrive

Site invitations are individual emails containing the link to the site being shared. They are sent when access to a Published site becomes available. They are separate from activity notifications, which may follow an hourly or other configured digest schedule.

For example, if an investor receives access to a Published fund site and a new Draft individual site, the fund invitation is sent first. The individual-site invitation is sent when that site is published. If both sites are Draft, neither invitation is sent until its site is published. Invitations are not combined into an hourly activity digest.

You can prepare individual sites and publish several together from the Sites list. See Sites and General Site Settings.

4. Results

Results shows progress for each user, the individual site where one was created, and site invitation outcomes. Use Show issues only to focus on incomplete work or failed invitations. The existing-site invitation summary also lets you inspect recipients for each outcome.

• Complete means the user's setup completed. Invitation outcomes are shown separately.
• Sent records an invitation accepted by the email provider; it does not confirm the user has opened it.
• Not sent at setup — site was Draft records the site's state during setup. Later publication sends invitations through the site's normal invitation process.
• Failed includes the setup or invitation error. Not sent — access no longer available means the user no longer has the access needed for that invitation.

Select Retry failed work to retry incomplete setup or failed invitations. Completed setup and generated sites are retained, so an invitation retry does not create another individual site. Existing access does not trigger a new invitation simply because the same user is included again.

A submitted batch continues processing when the dialog is closed. Choose New User to reopen the dialog, expand Recent imports, and choose View results to return to its progress. Submitted work can resume after a processing interruption.

Use Export results to download a CSV containing names, emails, individual site names, setup status, invitation outcomes, and errors. Open generated sites from Results, or use the individual-site icon beside the user in the Users list. If more than one generated site is linked, the icon opens a selection menu.

Related guides

• Managing Users — roles, groups, expiry, and ongoing access management
• Profile Settings — enable the full interface
• General Site Settings — Draft and Published visibility
• Notifications — activity notification preferences