Adding External Users to Insightly

One of the most requested features we just implemented is the ability to add external users who are not part of your Google Apps domain to your Insightly. If you already have Insightly set up with your Google Apps domain, you now have the ability to invite Non-Google Apps users with just their email address and name.

External users are treated the same as Google Apps users, with the exception that they will not be able to perform Google Apps specific actions like adding Google Docs, or syncing contacts and calendar items with Gmail and Google Calendar.

First choosing an Insightly URL

In order to use this new functionality, an Insightly administrator first needs to set a unique Insightly URL for external users to navigate to and log in.  To do this, go Settings > 'Insightly URL'.  Settings is the small gear icon in the top right corner of Insightly.

The last part of this URL address is always ".insight.ly" but you can change the first part of the web address to something your users will remember - if it has not already been reserved. Your external users will then type in that URL to access Insightly.

Examples might include: http://mycompany.insight.ly, http://myteam.insight.ly, or http://myproject.insight.ly

Your Insightly URL must contain only the characters A-Z or a-z, the numbers 0-9, or the hyphen character. No spaces are allowed and it must be at least 5 characters.If you change your Insightly URL, it's up to you to tell all your users the new URL so they can continue to access Insightly.

Inviting External Users

After setting up your URL, you will be able to invite new users by specifying their first name, last name, and e-mail address through Settings > Users.

When you invite a new user to join your Insightly, an email will be sent to the email address you specified for new user with an invitation link to sign up to Insightly. The invitation offer will expire after 7 days for security reasons.  If after that time the user has not yet signed up, a new invitation will need to be generated from within the User administrator page.

The invitation email sent to the new user will include a special link that they can click to enter in a password and they will be logged straight into your Insightly. For them to login again in the future, the user will need to type in the Insightly URL you have chosen, and they will be presented with a login screen to enter their email address and the password they set.

Note: External users will not have access to some functionality unique to Google Apps like adding Google Docs, and syncing contacts and calendars with Gmail and Google Calendar.