Slack: Invited External User as Regular Member, Cannot Revert to Guest

Summary

This article provides information on how to adjust an external user in Slack from an invited regular member to a single-channel guest.

Body

Environment

U-M Slack

Issue

I invited someone external to my U-M Slack workspace as a regular member. Because external users cannot be regular members in U-M Slack, I need to change them to a single-channel guest, but Slack is not allowing me to re-invite them.

Resolution

When an external user is invited as a regular member, the only way to re-invite them as a single-channel guest is to deactivate and reactivate their Slack account. This part of the process can only be accomplished by ITS. Below are steps Workspace Admins should complete before and after ITS intervention on the external user's account.

Before your request to ITS

  1. Before ITS moves forward with your request, remove the external user(s) from your workspace.
    1. Click University of Michigan at the top of the left channel sidebar.
    2. Hover over Tools & settings in the drop-down menu, and select Manage members.
    3. Select the relevant workspace from the drop-down and click Open.
    4. Enter the member's name in the Filter by name or email field in the top right.
    5. Click the three-dots icon to the right of the member's name you want to remove.
    6. Select Deactivate account from the drop-down menu.
  2. After you have removed the external user from your workspace, ITS can now complete the deactivation/reactivation of the account.
    • If you have not already, make sure you have a ticket open with ITS by contacting the ITS Service Center.

After deactivation and reactivation

ITS will be able to re-add the user to the appropriate channel in your workspace. Please make sure you know exactly which channel of your workspace the user must be in, and ITS will follow up with you in the ticket. If the channel is private, the ITS staff member may need to be added to the channel in order to complete the process.

Additional Information

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.

Details

Details

Article ID: 8507
Created
Mon 7/18/22 1:01 PM
Modified
Thu 10/23/25 9:08 AM

Related Articles

Related Articles (2)

This article explains how to invite non-UMICH (external) email addresses as single-channel guests to a U-M Slack channel.
This article links to ITS Documentation explaining how to invite members to a U-M Slack Workspace