Once you've added a member account, you'll assign it to an audience to determine that member account's permissions and site access, such as editorial privileges and access to restricted content.
To learn how to create site members with their own unique sign-in and logins, visit Creating member accounts.
Note: Audiences and member accounts are available in the Unlimited billing plan.
Create an audience
Note: Some Squarespace 5 users aren't able to add a new audience directly. If you're having issues, contact us and we can add a new audience for you. You'll then be able to configure the audience and edit permissions.
On the Unlimited billing plan, you can create up to four audiences.
From Website Management, click Member Permissions under Members & Access. You'll see a default audience called The Public, and any previously created audiences.
Click Add New Audience at the bottom.
Enter a name for your audience and click Save Changes.
The new audience appears on the main Member Permissions screen. If you have more than three audiences, click Next Page to see the ones that aren't visible.
Configure the audience
Click Edit above the audience name to configure your audience. You can't configure The Public audience.
- Description - Add a note to remind yourself of the purpose of this audience.
- Login Redirect Page and Logout Redirect Page - Specify the pages that members in this audience will see when they log into or out of your site.
- Allow Limited Editor Publishing - Check this to allow limited editors to fully publish content on your site. When unchecked, limited editors can only publish drafts, which must be approved by a full editor.
- Send Draft Notifications - When this option is checked, editors in this audience will receive a notice when drafts are posted.
When you've finished configuring the audience, click Save Changes.
Set permissions
Within the main Member Permissions area, you can edit permissions for each audience. By default, permissions for each new audience are set to visible. Click the bubbles to change the audience's permissions for each page on your site.
Note: Multiple audiences with limited editor and editor options are available on the Unlimited billing plan. You can adjust The Public audience on any billing plan.
For any audience you add, you can set the permissions for each page on your site:
| Setting | Permission level |
| Restricted | Members won't be able to see these pages. |
| Storage Only | Pages with this setting won't be visible, but the contents will be visible if used on other pages. For example, if you've added images to a Storage Only page, you can use those images on other pages. If members try to access a Storage Only page while logged in, they'll see an error message. |
| Visible | Members will be able to see these pages. |
| Limited Editor | Give editorial privileges for Journal pages with this setting. Configure the audience (see above) to determine whether limited editors can publish directly or just create drafts. |
| Editor | Give full editorial privileges for any page with this setting. |
Once you've finished editing the audience's permissions, click Update Permissions to apply the changes to your site.
To learn more about editors and limited editors, visit Adding editors to your site.
The Public audience
Member accounts assigned to The Public audience have the same site access as any visitors who aren't signed in. They can't see restricted pages or edit content. However, they can subscribe to site updates via email, and have a unique identifier in comments.
Site owner vs. members
Each Squarespace 5 site has an owner (also known as the "administrator account") who can’t be removed by other users.
While all site members can log into the site, only the site owner can:
- Access the Website Management bar or any of its administration areas.
- Access and update billing information.
- Make structure or style changes.
- Change headers or footers.
- Create member accounts.
- Edit audience permissions.
- Add slideshows.
- View and approve unpublished comments.
- Choose a new site owner.
Create a mailing list
Create a list of emails for all the members assigned to an audience:
- In the Website Management bar, click Member Permissions under Members & Access.
- Click Edit above the audience name.
- Scroll down to Advanced Options and click Show Audience Email List.
- Use the options in the top-right to choose how the names display.
- Highlight the text, then copy it by pressing Ctrl + C (⌘ + C on a Mac).
- Paste the list of emails into a text document or wherever you'd like to save it. To paste, press Ctrl + V (⌘ + V on a Mac).
More help
Visit Members & audiences (workshop) for a video presentation walk-through of setting up member accounts and audiences.
Squarespace 7 comparison
On our current platform, permissions are primarily used to allow contributors to help edit and manage your site. With Squarespace 7, you can:
- Add a site-wide password.
- Add a page-specific password to any page.
- Invite contributors to your site and control what they can access and edit.
Depending on their permissions, contributors can edit pages, moderate comments, view your site metrics, access your billing information, and more. You can also restrict them from settings they shouldn't see. To learn more, visit Squarespace permissions explained.
You can also add Member Areas to your site to create exclusive content that's only visible to visitors who sign up for a membership. To learn more, visit Getting started with Member Areas.