A member account gives a person or group of people special access to your site.
Website members can subscribe to site updates via email, and have a unique identifier in comments. You can also give them different site access from the general public, including editorial privileges and the ability to view restricted pages.
Note: Member accounts are available in the Unlimited billing plan.
This page details how to create a new member account.
Step 1 - Create an account
From Website Management, click Member Accounts under Members & Access. Then click Create Account.
Step 2 - Add account information
In the Account Information section, fill in the following fields:
- Login - The name the person or people will use to log in with. The login must begin with a letter and can't have special characters.
- Display Name - This is what will display on contributions from this account.
- Password - Create a password for this account.
Members are able to change their display name and password once they've logged in.
Step 3 - Assign an audience
Use the Audience drop-down menu to determine the site permissions for this member account.
- The Public - The public audience has the same rights as an unidentified user accessing your website. This is the default setting for member accounts.
The drop-down menu is populated by the Audiences you've set in Member Permissions. For example, you may have an Editor audience with settings that give those members permission to edit specific pages. To learn more, visit Adding and editing audiences.
After setting up a member account, you can change its audience in Member Accounts.
Step 4 - Set as personal or group account
- If this account will be used by one person, leave Personal Account checked.
- If this account will be used by more than one person, uncheck Personal Account. The options to send an email invitation and add member information will disappear.
Note: Group accounts can't use the subscribe feature to subscribe to updates for pages within your site.
Require email confirmation (optional)
For personal accounts, you can require the member to confirm their email address before accessing the site for the first time. To do so:
- Ensure Personal Account is checked.
- Uncheck Confirmed.
- Check Send an Email Invitation.
- Add an email address to the Email field in the Member Information section.
Once you create the account, they will receive an email invite with a validation link.
Note: This option shouldn't be used for group accounts.
Send email invitation (optional)
For personal accounts, check Send an Email Invitation in the Email Invitation section to send an automated notification to your new member once the account is created. This option isn't available for group accounts.
- You must also add an email address in the Member Information section.
- The email can't be associated with an existing member account.
The message comes from no-reply@squarespace.com and includes their login details, a link to the login page, and any text you added in the Custom Message field.
Resending an email invitation
You can resend the invite email after setting up an account by clicking Modify and then Re-send an Email Invitation in Member Accounts.
Note: When resending, add the password in the Password field before clicking Save Changes. Otherwise the password displays blank in the invitation email.
Add member information (optional)
For personal accounts, you can add contact information for the member in the Member Information section. This option isn't available for group accounts.
Check Allow Members to Contact This Member to allow contact from other member accounts by site email.
Step 5 - Create the account
After configuring this new account, click Create Account to add the new member. If you selected to send an email invitation, it will send automatically once you click Create Account.
Logging in
Members can log in to your site with their login name and password at a dedicated URL:
http://username.squarespace.com/display/Login
Note: Replace username with your own unique identifier.
Once logged in, they'll see an area where they can adjust their profile and subscribe to page updates.
They'll also see edit buttons for any parts of your site that they have permission to edit.
Allow members to register themselves
Add a registration page to your site to allow visitors to sign up for member accounts independently. When you configure the registration page, you'll assign an audience for all members who sign up.
To learn how to set up a registration page, visit Creating a registration page.
When a visitor registers as a member, they receive an email with their login name and an automatically-generated password.
Change member accounts
To make changes to any member account, navigate to Member Accounts in the Website Management bar and use the drop-down menu to adjust the audience.
Click Modify for more options, including:
- Changing the account information.
- Re-sending an email invite.
- Adjusting whether the account is personal or group.
- Resetting the password or login name.
- Changing whether other members can contact this account.
- Disabling the member account without completely removing it. To do this, uncheck Enabled.
After making Modify changes, click Save Changes.
Remove member accounts
To remove any member account:
- Go to Member Accounts in the Website Management bar.
- Click Remove on the right side of the member's row.
- Click Save Changes.
Next steps
Adjust the permissions for your member's audience in Member Permissions. To learn more, visit Adding and editing audiences.
More help
Watch the archived Members & audiences workshop for a video presentation walk-through of setting up member accounts and audiences.
Squarespace 7 comparison
On our current platform, you can add Member Areas to your site to create exclusive content that's only visible to visitors who sign up for a membership. Member Areas work similarly to member accounts and audiences on Squarespace 5, but with a few added features, including:
- The option to monetize your content by adding membership fees
- Customer Accounts that securely save information and link member accounts to the Commerce side of your site
- A Profiles panel where you can view and manage your members
To learn more, visit Getting started with Member Areas.
Even without using Member Areas, 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
To learn more about moving to our current platform, visit Squarespace 5 vs. newer versions.