In AB Projects you never invite people by email — the linked Microsoft Teams channel is the member list. Adding someone means putting them in the channel; removing someone for good means taking them out of the channel too.
How people are added
There are two paths, and both start from the same place: the person must be in the linked Teams channel. See Teams Channel and Project Linking for how that link works.
1. Automatic sync (the normal path)
When anyone in the channel opens the AB Projects tab, AB syncs the channel roster and adds everyone who's in the channel but not yet on the project. People join as Member, with their Microsoft identity registered so they can be assigned tasks and @mentioned right away — they don't need to open the tab themselves. The sync is throttled to about once per hour per project, so a newly added channel member is usually picked up within the hour. Details: Becoming a Project Member.
2. Manual invite from the Team page (for stragglers)
If someone is in the channel but hasn't been picked up yet and you want them on the project now:
- Open the Team page in the AB Projects tab.
- Click the + button in the top-right corner. The Invite from your Teams channel panel opens.
- Tick who to bring in (or Select all) and submit. The list only shows people who are in the channel but not on AB yet.
The picker is deliberately limited to the channel's roster — you cannot add an arbitrary Microsoft 365 user. If the button is greyed out with “Everyone in this channel is already on AB,” there's nobody left to invite: add the person to the Teams channel first, then invite them here (or just wait for the auto-sync).
Roles when people join
Everyone joins as Member — the standard working role. An Owner or Admin can change a person's role afterward to Viewer (read-only) or, if the Owner does it, Admin. The sync never overwrites a role you've set: a member you demoted to Viewer stays a Viewer through every future sync. The full model — Owner, Admin, Member, and Viewer — is in Role-Based Access Control.
Removing a member
- Remove them from the Teams channel first (in Microsoft Teams), so the sync can't bring them back.
- Open the project's settings and find them under Joined Members.
- Click the remove button on their card and confirm with Yes, remove. If they're still in the channel, the confirmation warns you they'll be re-added on the next sync.
Removal is a soft delete: the person loses access, but every task they created, their comments, and their change history stay intact and attributed — the project's audit trail remains complete. Owners can be removed by no one (ownership must be transferred first), and only the Owner can remove an Admin.
People can also leave a project themselves (any Member or Admin, from the project's settings) — with the same catch: leave the Teams channel too, or the sync quietly re-adds you. See Managing Project Settings.
Quick reference
| You want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Add someone new | Add them to the linked Teams channel; they're synced in as Member (within about an hour, or instantly when anyone opens the tab). |
| Add someone already in the channel, right now | Team page → + → Invite from your Teams channel → tick them → submit. |
| Make someone read-only | Keep them in the channel; set their role to Viewer in the project's settings. |
| Remove someone for good | Remove from the Teams channel and from Joined Members in the project's settings. |
| Remove someone from AB but keep them in the channel | Not possible for long — the sync re-adds them as Member. Use the Viewer role instead. |
Treat the Teams channel roster as the source of truth — AB Projects follows it, so access management stays where your Microsoft admins already do it.