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# Seats, roles and folder permissions

You can give a reviewer access to every model your team works on without giving them a CAD seat, and change anyone's access later in two clicks.

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## Seats and roles are two different things

* **Seat**: what someone can do with files, and what you pay for.
* **Role**: what someone can do with the workspace and its folders. The two roles are **Owner** and **Member**.

Whoever creates the account becomes the **Workspace Owner**. Everyone invited afterward joins as a **Member** once they register. The original creator's role cannot be changed. Owners and Members are both billed as Editor seats.

## The three seats

| Seat | What it does | Where it works |
| ---- |
| **Editor** | Full access: check files in and out, edit, release | Add-in and Web Dashboard |
| **Contributor** | View files, comment on 3D and 2D, join the approval workflow | Web Dashboard only |
| **Viewer** | View files and markups | Web Dashboard only |

Contributor and Viewer seats are on the **Core** and **Scale** plans. They do not use the add-in, and they do not add storage.

## What a Workspace Owner can do

* See every folder, subfolder and file, whoever created it
* Lock and unlock files, so a critical document cannot be edited
* Change anyone else's seat or role
* Act as approver on releases and revision approvals

## Invite a user

1. Open the user list in your workspace.
2. Enter their email address.
3. Pick the seat.
4. Click **Invite**.

They get an email invitation with a link. A pending invite shows a **Resend** action in the user list if it goes unanswered.

## Change access later

* Change someone's seat in the user list and it takes effect for them.
* Change their global role from the pull-down menu on the same screen.
* Deactivate an account when someone leaves. They lose access; their history and their comments stay where they are. Re-invite the same email and their account comes back.
* Hand the whole workspace to a different account by promoting a second Owner, then deactivating the first. See [Transfer workspace ownership to another account](https://help.sibe.io/en-us/article/transfer-workspace-ownership-to-another-account-19jery3/).

## Folder permissions

Folder access overrides the global workspace role. Someone can be a Member across the workspace and have no access at all to one folder, or full access to another.

1. Go to **Vault → Folders**.
2. Open the **Actions** menu on the folder.
3. Click **Users**.
4. Set the role for each person on that folder.

A folder is either **public**, meaning everyone in the workspace has access, or **private**, meaning only the people you add directly do. Switch a folder between the two at any time after you create it.

## Common questions

**Does a reviewer need an Editor seat?**
No. A Viewer seat opens models and markups in a browser, which is enough for most reviewers and non-CAD teammates. Give them a Contributor seat if they need to comment or approve.

**Why can't I add a Contributor or Viewer seat?**
Those two seats are on the Core and Scale plans. If your workspace is still on a legacy Business plan, check your plan under **Settings → Subscription**.

**Can I resend an invitation?**
Yes. Pending invites show a Resend action in the user list.

**What happens when I deactivate a user?**
They lose access. Their history and comments stay. Re-invite the same email to restore them.

**How do I move the workspace to a different account?**
Invite the new email, promote it from Member to Owner, then deactivate the old account. The steps are in [Transfer workspace ownership to another account](https://help.sibe.io/en-us/article/transfer-workspace-ownership-to-another-account-19jery3/).

**Who approves a release?**
Workspace Owners are approvers by default. You can add others on the release itself. See **Releases: revisions and approvals**.

**Someone has the wrong access to one folder only.**
Folder permissions override the workspace role. Check **Vault → Folders → Actions → Users** on that folder.

**Next:** Upload CAD files

> Still stuck? Start a chat from the bottom-right of any Sibe page, or email [support@sibe.io](mailto:support@sibe.io).
>
> SOLIDWORKS is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. Sibe is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dassault Systèmes.