> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://umber.gitbook.io/umber/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://umber.gitbook.io/umber/concepts/workspaces-and-members.md). # Workspaces and Members A **workspace** is your organisation's account on Umber. It owns everything you create — your [environments](/umber/concepts/environments.md), [virtual assets](/umber/concepts/virtual-assets.md), [collections](/umber/concepts/virtual-collections.md), your plan and your billing — and it is the boundary nothing crosses. Assets in one workspace are never visible from another. People are added to a workspace by invitation. Whoever creates the workspace becomes its **owner**; they and any **admin** can invite colleagues, assign roles, and deactivate or remove members. ## One account, one workspace **Each email address belongs to exactly one Umber workspace.** There is no way to be a member of two workspaces at the same time, and no way to switch between them. This is deliberate. Your email address is your identity on Umber: it decides which assets you can see, which plan you are billed under, and which environments you can deploy to. Keeping that answer singular means those questions always have exactly one answer, whichever way you arrive — the dashboard, the [CLI](/umber/cli-tools/umber-cli.md), or an API key. ### What you'll see If you invite someone who already belongs to a different workspace, the invitation is refused: > This email address is already associated with another Umber workspace. Contact support if this is unexpected. Nothing is sent — the person doesn't receive an email, and no seat is taken from your plan. {% hint style="info" %} **We don't tell you which workspace.** If Umber named the other organisation, anyone could use the invite form to find out where a given person works. The message stays deliberately vague for the same reason your own members aren't discoverable from outside. {% endhint %} ### Capitalisation doesn't create a second account `Ada@example.com` and `ada@example.com` are the same person to Umber. Addresses are matched without regard to capitalisation or surrounding spaces, so you can't end up with two accounts — or two workspaces — because of how an address was typed. ## Freeing an email address An address is held by a workspace only while there's a reason to hold it. It's released automatically when: | What happens | Address released? | | ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | A member is **removed** from the workspace | Yes — immediately available to any workspace | | An invitation is **revoked** before it's accepted | Yes | | An invitation **expires** unaccepted | Yes | | A member is **deactivated** | **No** — see below | Once released, the address can be invited by any workspace, including a new one the person creates themselves by signing up. ### Deactivating is not the same as removing Deactivating a member ends their access and **returns their seat**, so you can invite someone else within your plan's limit. But it keeps their record — their role, their history — so you can reactivate them later exactly as they were. Because the account still belongs to your workspace, deactivating does **not** free the email address. That's what makes reinstatement possible: if the address could be claimed elsewhere while someone was deactivated, there'd be nothing left to reactivate. | | Seat returned | Address freed | Can be restored | | -------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------- | | **Deactivate** | Yes | No | Yes — reactivate them | | **Remove** | Yes | Yes | No — they must be invited again | Use **deactivate** for someone on leave, between projects, or whose access you want to suspend temporarily. Use **remove** when they've left for good. ## Common situations **Someone has joined us from another company that uses Umber.** Their old workspace needs to remove them first. Once that's done, your invitation goes through normally. If their previous employer can't or won't do this, contact — we can help, but we'll need confirmation from the address holder. **I want a personal workspace as well as my company's.** Use a different email address for each. One address can't hold two workspaces. **I invited someone and nothing arrived.** Check whether the invitation was refused rather than sent — a refused invitation shows the message above and takes no seat. If it was sent, check their spam folder, then use **Resend** from their entry in the members list, which issues a fresh link and invalidates the previous one. **I signed up with a different address by mistake and now have an empty workspace.** Contact rather than creating more accounts — each signup creates a separate workspace with its own plan. ## Seats Your plan sets how many seats your workspace has. A seat is taken by anyone who has joined, and also by any invitation that's still outstanding — so sending an invitation reserves the seat immediately rather than when it's accepted. An invitation that's revoked or that expires gives its seat back. If you're at your limit, revoking an unaccepted invitation is often quicker than upgrading. See [Running out of seats](/umber/guides/inviting-team-members.md#running-out-of-seats). ## Related * [Roles and Permissions](/umber/concepts/roles-and-permissions.md) — what each role can do * [Inviting Team Members](/umber/guides/inviting-team-members.md) — sending, resending and revoking invitations * [Managing Team Members](/umber/guides/managing-team-members.md) — editing, deactivating, removing, passwords --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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