Organization members vs Project members vs Project Observers

Have you ever wondered what's the difference when you invite someone to your Organization and when you invite them to a Project? 

In this help article, we'll tell you all about it!

Project Members

Projects can be Organization projects, or they can be Personal projects. Organization rights can overwrite project rights. For example, you can be a member of a project but be an Admin in the Organization where the Project belongs. In this case, you'll be able to do anything an Admin can do in the Project. There are three statuses of Project members:

Admin

Project Admins can delete the Project, move it to another Organization, change other members' project status. In short, they have all rights over the Project. 

Member

I'll try to explain this as simple as possible. 

Project members can do anything that is task-related in a project. They can:

  • create new tasks
  • move them
  • archive & delete them
  • create & remove lists, labels, views, task types
  • you can select whether project members are allowed to invite new members or not 

These are most of the things project members are allowed to do.

Now here's what they can't do in a project:

  • delete the Project and archive it
  • change anything in the Preferences and Add-ons of the Project
  • make new integrations - they can only integrate with Google Calendar, but this is a personal integration.
  • create & finish Sprints
  • remove Project members 

This is everything the project members are not allowed to do in a project. 

Observer

Observers are most limited in the Project. In short, they can't do anything of the list with actions Project members can do from above. However, you can allow observers to have the following rights:

  • comment
  • see commits
  • add tasks - there is a different help article about this - see here

Navigate to Project Settings > Preferences > Permissions to access these options. 

You can also hide members, tasks, lists, tracked time, and comments from observers. That functionality is available through the "Task, time and comment privacy" Add ON. Learn more here.

To sum up:

  • Admins can do anything in the Project.
  • Members can freely manage tasks and other task-related functionality but cannot change the project preferences and Add ON's.
  • Observers can view the Project, but can't manage the tasks. They can create tasks if you allow them to but only in one list. You can also hide tasks, members, and comments from them. 

Organization Members

Organizations are a collection of team Members and Projects. 

Organization Members have two types:

Admin

Admins can do anything in the Organization. They can change the Organization's preferences, invite, remove, change member statuses, and delete the Organization. If an Admin is a Member of an Organization Project, he can still do anything in the Project. Admins can view all Organization Projects and join them. 

Member

Members' rights in the Organization can be controlled. You can be a Member of Organization but an Admin in one of the Organization's Projects. In this case, you'll have all Admin rights in the Project. You can use this to control who can do what and where. 

Navigate to Organization Settings > Preferences > Members Rights. You'll be able to allow Members to do the following: 

  • Invite and Join projects. If you select Admins, Organization Members will be able to view all Organization Projects, except for the "Secret" ones, but won't be able to join or invite members to the projects. 
  • Create folders and rearrange 
  • Create Private Projects
  • Create Public Projects
  • Create Secret Projects

Finally, you can have Non-Organization Members. These are members of any of your Organization Projects but not part of the Organization itself. They won't be able to see any of the other Organization Projects.

Non-Organization Members are included in your Organization's billing.

To sum up:

  • Admins can do anything in the Organization.
  • You decide what permissions the Members have in your Organization.
  • Non-Organization Members are members of one of your Organization Projects. They don't see anything outside the Project.