Managing Agenda Permissions
Choose who can open, edit, and share each note, and see who else has it open.
On this page
Every note in Groupthink has its own access settings. You control who can open it, who can edit it, and who can change its sharing. This is where the roles referenced across the sharing docs (Viewer, Participant, Host) are set.
Where these controls live
Open the agenda and click Share in its header. This opens the Note Sharing Settings window, which is where you set visibility and manage each person's role.
A meeting recap has its own Share button too. That panel shares one recap: it lists who can open it, lets you add people, and lets a Host change visibility. Roles are changed only in Note Sharing Settings.
The three roles
Everyone added to a note has one of three roles:
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Host | Full control. Can edit the note, invite people, change anyone's role (including making someone else a Host), remove people, and change the note's visibility. |
| Participant | Can view and edit the note, invite people, change other members' roles, and remove people. Cannot change the note's visibility or grant the Host role. |
| Viewer | Read only. Can view the note but cannot edit it, and is not admitted to the Groupthink notetaker's call as a participant. |
When someone is added or invited, they start as a Participant. Change their role afterward in Note Sharing Settings.
Who can change a meeting
Opening a meeting's recap and changing it are two different things. These people can say who a speaker was in the transcript, add or remove linked people, and change the meeting's action items:
- A Host or Participant on the agenda.
- Anyone who was in the meeting, whatever their role.
Someone who can open the meeting but is not in either group can read it and cannot change it. That includes a Viewer who was not in the meeting, and someone who opened an Anyone with the link note they have not been added to. Where the controls would be, they see a line such as You can read this meeting, but only people who were in it or are on its series can change it. Ask the meeting's host to add you. "Its series" means the agenda. They can still change an action item that is their own.
To let that person make changes, add them to the agenda as a Participant.
Changing someone's role
- Open the agenda and click Share in its header.
- Find the person in the member list.
- Use the role dropdown next to their name to pick Host, Participant, or Viewer.
A couple of guardrails apply:
- Only a Host can grant the Host role. If you are a Participant, the Host option is unavailable.
- A note must always keep at least one Host, so the last remaining Host cannot be changed to another role until someone else is made a Host.
- A Host can't change their own role. Another Host has to change it.
Removing access
On the same member list, click the trash icon next to a person to remove them from the note. You cannot remove yourself this way.
- A Host can't be removed from the list. Change their role first.
- On a locked note, only a Host can invite or remove people.
Visibility levels
Visibility controls who can open the note beyond the people you have added by name. There are two levels, and only a Host can change them:
- Specific individuals: only people added to the note can view it. This is the default for new notes.
- Anyone with the link: anyone who has the link can view the note.
People you have added by name keep their access at every level, so switching visibility never drops someone you invited on purpose.
An older level, Anyone in the organization, was removed in October 2026. Notes that used it are now Specific individuals. People already on the note's member list kept their access.
Adding people and calendar attendees
You add people by email from the Invite by email field in Note Sharing Settings. When a note is attached to a calendar event, the attendees are added for you: the organizer as a Host, attendees with a Groupthink account as Participants, and attendees without one listed by name and email until they sign up. Full details, including what happens for people without a Groupthink account, are in Sharing a Meeting With Someone Who Does Not Have an Account.
Private notes
A privately recorded note is visible only to you. It does not add calendar attendees, so no one else is pulled in automatically. For how private recording works, see Private Desktop Recording.
Its privacy comes from this page's rules, not from a separate mechanism: a private recording creates an agenda with only you on it, so the same access rules described above resolve to you alone.
One label that does not mean what it looks like
The notes box on an agenda carries a 📝 Your private notes chip. That chip is about the box, not the meeting. It appears on every agenda, including ones you share with other people, and it means the text you type there is yours alone.
It does not mean the meeting, the transcript, or the recap is private. To tell those apart, look at the meeting's own chip (Private or Shared; in a narrow window it shows only ✨ or 🤖) or at the people list in Note Sharing Settings, which is the authoritative answer to "who can read this."
See Who Is Viewing an Agenda
When two or more people open the same agenda at once, Groupthink shows their avatars in the agenda header so you can see who else is there in real time. This makes it easy to tell when a teammate is already in the agenda with you, whether you are getting ready before a call or following along during one.
How It Works
Presence appears in the header of an agenda, next to the settings gear and the Share button.
- Each person currently viewing the agenda shows up as an avatar.
- The avatars update automatically as people open and close the agenda.
- Hover an avatar to see that person's name.
Presence only appears when two or more people are viewing the same agenda. If you are the only one there, no avatars are shown, so a solo view stays clean.
If more than five people are viewing at once, the header shows the first few avatars followed by a count of the rest (for example, +3).
Staying Up to Date
The rest of the agenda page stays current without a refresh, too. When someone renames the agenda, or a meeting on it starts or ends, everyone with the page open sees the change.
Privacy
- Presence is only visible to people who already have access to the agenda. If someone cannot open the agenda, they cannot see who is viewing it.
- Your presence is only shown to people who can open the agenda.
- There is no invisible mode. If you have an agenda open and at least one other person is viewing it too, your avatar is visible to them.
- The notes box on an agenda is your own scratchpad. Other people viewing the agenda do not see what you type there.
Tips
- Avatars in the header are a quick way to know a teammate already has the agenda open before the meeting starts.
- If you do not see any avatars, it usually means you are the only person currently viewing the agenda.
Getting Help
Questions about note access or roles? Email support@groupthink.com.