Bringing people into your space on Gather is easy. All you need to do is invite them or share the URL to your space. Sometimes, however, it's helpful to have more control over who's able to enter your space.

We've designed a few ways you can add an extra level of security to your virtual building. These include: 

• Requiring a password (Available for All Spaces) 
• Requiring someone's email to be from a specific domain (Paid Spaces Only)
• Requiring guests to check in (Office Spaces Only)  
• Requiring someone to be on an approved guest list (Conference Spaces Only) 

This article will explain these different methods of limiting space access so you can choose the best option for your team on Gather. 

If someone is a Member of a space, they can enter regardless of these settings. The User Role overrides these access restrictions and will also determine the permissions and features someone has access to once they're in the space. 

Set up a Space Password (Available for All Spaces) 

When a Guest tries to enter your password-protected space, they will see this message:

Members will not need to enter the password in order to enter the space. 

To set this up, open Settings in the main menu. With the Space tab active, select Space Access. Enter a Space Password.

To remove the password, select Remove (if it exists).

Alternatively, you can also open your Space Dashboard. Select Space Access in the dashboard's Left Nav Menu. Toggle the Space Password on, enter a password, and select Save. 

To remove the password from the dashboard, toggle the Space Password setting off.

If you remove or change a password while people are in your space, they will all respawn to your default Spawn tiles.

Restrict Access by Domain (Paid Spaces Only) 

If you've made a reservation or have a subscription for your space, you can add the additional security method of restricting access by email domain. This means to enter the space, a Guest must be logged in and their account email must match the domain(s) you've listed. 

To limit access by email domain: 

1. Open the Main Menu (with the Gather logo) in the bottom navigation bar and click Settings
2. Go to Space > Advanced > Space Dashboard
3. From the Space Dashboard, select Space Access
4. Toggle on Email Domain access
5. Enter the domain(s) you want to have access and click Save

Note: An email domain is the part of the email address that comes after the @ symbol.

To remove the email domain restriction, select the x next to the domain, then select Save.

If someone is a Member, they will be able to enter your space even if their email address doesn't match the domain(s). The User Role overrides restricting access by domain. 

Require Guests to Check In (Offices Only) 

Invite guests to your remote work office with peace of mind. You can control how often guests can join your space and easily greet them when they enter. There are two ways your guests will experience this: one if they enter through a meeting link, and another if they go directly to your space URL. 

The Guest Experience

When your guest tries to enter your space, they will see a screen displaying a list of all active members. They will then be prompted to select who they are there to see. Once they choose a member, that member will be given the option to accept or deny the request.

Your Experience as a Host

If you are logged into your account and active in a space, you will receive a notification if a guest is trying to enter and speak with you. You can choose to accept or deny their entry. If you deny entry, the guest will receive a notification. If you accept, you can then choose to send them to the lobby (or spawn location) of your space or allow them to meet you directly where you are currently located.

Enabling Guest Check-In

To enable the guest check-in experience, a space Admin will need to:

1. Click on Settings
2. Click on the Space tab
3. Click on Space Access
4. Adjust the toggle for Enable guest check-in

By default, a guest who checks into a space is given access for 24 hours. This allows the guest to bypass the check-in process for 24 hours. If you have a frequent visitor, you can assign them guest access that is set for a longer duration.

To issue guest access, the guest must be signed into their Gather account. Once you assign access, the guest will receive an email with the details. If you need to make changes, you can manage the guest access duration or revoke it after it has been created.

Managing the Guest Experience

To manage guest access and settings, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings
2. Click on the Space tab
3. Click on Manage Guests

From here you can view Active, Expired, and Revoked guest access, manage current guests, and add new ones. 

Create a Guest List (Conference Spaces Only) 

When you create a guest list, only users whose email is on the list can enter your conference space. Here's what it looks like when someone tries to enter your space: 

The first step is to create your guest list. You can do this in Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers, or any program that allows you to save/export a file as .csv (comma separated values).

In your document, create the following columns:

• Column A = email (required). 
• Column B = name (optional; sets the guest's name in Gather. If you provide a name in the .csv, the person cannot change their name once in the Space. Leave the name field blank if you want your guests to be able to set their own names.)
• Column C = role (optional; describes the person's role in your space. This field is for your internal use only and does not actually assign a user role.)
• Column D = affiliation (optional; displays information below the person's name in the user info card available from the Participants list. See example in screenshot below.)

Tip: Use the affiliation field to provide helpful details about a person, like identifying help staff or the guest speaker's organization! 

The email addresses in your CSV file must be all lowercase. Capital letters are not supported at this time and can result in errors. 

Once your guest list is ready, open your Space Dashboard. Select Space Access in the Left Nav Menu. Scroll down to the Guest List section and select Upload .csv to upload your guest list file. 

Once your guest list is added, a new read-only Parsed Guest List section will display. 

Add or Remove Guests

To add additional guests, select Add more .csv and upload your new or updated guest list file. (This can be an updated copy with the original file name or a completely different file name.) The Parsed Guest List section will display the updates to your guest list. 

To remove individual guests, delete them from your .csv file, save the file, and select Upload .csv to overwrite the existing list.

To remove the guest list entirely, select Remove. 

Set a Help Contact

If someone tries to enter your space and they are not on the guest list, the following message will display. 

Use the Set Guest List Help Contact option to enter an email address that someone can contact if they need help entering the space. 

Tips and Troubleshooting for Guest Lists

• Guest lists are tied to the conference space, not your account.
• Having a guest list overrides password protection. 
• You can add email domain restriction prior to adding a guest list, and the two will work together. However, you cannot add email domain restriction after adding a guest list.
• Can't access the space? Make sure your email is on the guest list! (Yes, you must add your own email, even as a space Admin/Owner.)
• Occasionally, you may see an error message that says, "line undefined: Unable to auto-detect delimiting character; defaulted to "," that looks like this:
  
  This may happen if some of the email addresses in your CSV contain multiple periods and you only have two columns/categories. The quickest way to get around this is to add in an additional column for "role" in your file.

Allow Staff Access

If you are having issues and contact Gather for support, we may need you to grant us access to your space so we can better troubleshoot. To allow Gather staff to access your Space, go to your Space dashboard and select Space Access in the Left Nav Menu. Toggle on Allow Staff Access. 

You can also grant Gather staff access to your space from your Settings. Click Settings in the main menu of your space. In the Space tab, select Space Access in the Left Nav Menu, and toggle on Allow Staff Access.

It does not matter whether you grant access from the Space Dashboard or your Space Settings.

Gather Staff will never ask you for the password to your space.