Invite Co-Authors

Pro. This feature requires WB Member Blog Pro. The free plugin must be installed and active first. See the Pro index for every Pro module.

As a post’s author, you can invite other members to write it with you. This page walks through sending an invitation. Site owners should read Co-Authors first.

Before you start

• The Co-Authors module is on.
• The post has been saved at least once. A co-author is invited to a specific post, so a brand-new post needs to exist first.
• You are the post’s author (or a site administrator). Co-authors cannot invite others.

Send an invitation

1. Write your post and save it as a draft. On a new post, the Co-authors area shows “Save your post as a draft first, then invite co-authors.” until you do.
2. Open Post settings and expand the Collaboration section.
3. In Co-authors, start typing in the search box. Type at least 2 characters.
4. Pick the member from the results. The invitation is sent, and they appear under Pending Invitations marked Pending.
5. Repeat for anyone else, up to the site’s limit. The form shows how many more you can add, for example “You can add 2 more co-authors.”

How search works

• Search matches a member’s name, username or profile slug, including partial matches.
• If the site allows email invitations, you can also find someone by typing their complete email address. Partial email addresses are never matched, so an address cannot be guessed a few letters at a time.
• You, the post’s author, existing co-authors and members already invited are left out of the results.
• Up to 10 results are shown at once. Type more of the name to narrow them down.

What the invited member gets

• An email, if the site sends invitation emails and the member has not turned them off.
• On BuddyPress or BuddyBoss sites, an on-site notification.
• The invitation in the Co-Authors section of their Settings tab, with Accept and Decline.

The invitation expires after the number of days the site sets (7 by default).

Change your mind

• Cancel an invitation: click the cross next to the pending invitation (Cancel invitation).
• Remove a co-author: click the cross next to their name (Remove co-author).
• Change the byline order: drag co-authors into the order you want. The byline lists them in that order after you.

Messages you may see

Message	Meaning
Maximum of N co-authors reached.	The post has the most co-authors the site allows, counting pending invitations.
User is already a co-author.	They are already on the post.
User has already been invited.	An invitation to them is still open.
Email invitations are disabled.	The site only allows finding members by name or username.

Related

• Co-Authors
• Invitations, Editing Together and Removing Co-Authors
• Customize the Co-Author Byline