Not everyone who should say yes or no to your posts needs a full maebe account. That's exactly what external approval people are for: people who can approve or reject a post without having to sign in.
What an external approval person is
Picture your client, who only needs to give the finished result a nod. Instead of inviting them as a team member, you set them up as an external approval person. They then get an approval link and use it to confirm posts – identified by their name and a PIN. No account, no password, no onboarding.
That way maebe still knows exactly who said yes, and it stays traceable who the approval came from.
As an admin or owner you can look up an approval person's PIN at any time: open their edit dialog (pencil icon) – the eye icon there reveals the current PIN. For approval people who have been around for a while, the eye appears once their PIN has been set again.
How they differ from real members
It's important to know the difference:
- Team members have their own login and – depending on their role – access to projects, posts and settings. They actively pitch in.
- External approval people have no login and only see what you show them via a link. They do nothing but give their okay or their rejection.
Note: There's also the internal approver – a person with their own login who approves directly in maebe. For when to use which, see Internal approval. In short: external = no login, via PIN; internal = with login, inside the team.
When this pays off
- Your client should sign off on posts, but not click around in the platform.
- You want to keep the approval path as simple as possible – one link, one name, one PIN.
- Several people should be able to approve independently of one another.
Where to go next
For how the approval process works as a whole, see How approval works. And everything about the protected link and the PIN can be found under Approval link and PIN.