External Access

Sometimes your team needs to collaborate with people outside your workspace --- clients, contractors, partners, or interview candidates. Copera lets you invite external guests to specific meeting channels through shareable links, giving them limited access without requiring a full workspace account.

How Guest Access Works

Guest access in Copera is designed around meeting channels. When a meeting channel has an external link enabled, anyone with the link can join the meeting session through a dedicated guest lobby. This is ideal for client calls, external meetings, and cross-organization collaboration.

The guest experience follows this flow:

1. An admin or member generates an external link for the meeting channel.
2. The guest opens the link in their browser.
3. They land on a lobby page where they can configure their microphone and camera before joining.
4. Once they click Join, they enter the meeting session alongside workspace members.

Generating an External Link

To create an external link for a meeting channel:

1. Open the meeting channel and go to its Channel Details dialog.
2. Find the External Link section.
3. Click Generate Link (or copy the existing link if one has already been created).
4. Share the link with your external guests via email, chat, or any other communication tool.

tip

External links are persistent by default. You can share the same link for recurring meetings without regenerating it each time.

What Guests Can Do

Guests who join via an external link have a limited set of capabilities:

Capability	Guest	Workspace Member
Join meeting sessions	Yes	Yes
Use microphone and camera	Yes	Yes
View shared screens	Yes	Yes
Access the text chat during the session	Yes	Yes
Browse channel history	No	Yes
Access other channels	No	Yes
View workspace files and documents	No	Yes
Manage channel settings	No	Admin only

Guests only see the meeting session interface and the in-call chat. They have no access to the rest of your workspace, including other channels, files, documents, or workspace settings.

Email Summaries for Guests

If the meeting channel has External users receive email summary enabled in its transcription settings, guests will receive an email with the session transcript and AI-generated summary after the call ends. This is a convenient way to share meeting notes without giving guests ongoing access to your workspace.

Security Considerations

• Treat external links like passwords. Anyone with the link can join the meeting session. Only share links with intended participants.
• Revoke or regenerate links if they are shared with unintended recipients. Generating a new link invalidates the old one.
• Guest access is limited to meeting channels. Guests cannot browse text channels, files, or any other workspace content.
• Monitor guest activity. Workspace admins can see when guests join and leave meeting sessions.

Managing Guest Sessions

As a channel admin or workspace administrator:

• Monitor active guests --- When a guest joins a meeting session, their name appears in the participant list with a guest indicator.
• Remove guests from a session --- You can remove a guest from an active meeting call if needed.
• Disable external access --- Remove or regenerate the external link to prevent future guest joins.

Scheduled Calls with External Participants

Meeting channels support call schedules that can include external participant email addresses. When a scheduled call starts, external participants receive an email invitation with the link to join the session. This combines the convenience of calendar invites with Copera's guest access system.

To set up a scheduled call with external participants:

1. Open the meeting channel's Call Schedule tab.
2. Create a new schedule and fill in the title, time, and recurrence.
3. Add external participant email addresses in the External Participants field.
4. Save the schedule.

Best Practices

• Use dedicated channels for external meetings. Create a meeting channel specifically for client calls or external syncs. This keeps guest traffic separate from internal channels.
• Enable email summaries for guests. Guests appreciate receiving meeting notes, and it reduces follow-up requests for information shared during the call.
• Regenerate links after sensitive meetings. If a link was shared for a one-time meeting with external parties, regenerate it afterward to prevent unexpected future joins.
• Communicate expectations. Let guests know in advance what tools they will need (a modern browser with microphone access) to ensure a smooth experience.