# How to limit invites to admins
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** invites
**Created:** [March 4, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366 "2017-03-04T20:49:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Steve\_Pavlina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Steve_Pavlina)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/1 "2017-03-04T20:49:20Z")
I’m configuring a private Discourse forum and would like to restrict the ability to send invites, such that only admins have that ability. I’m not using SSO.
What settings should I use to prevent all non-admin members from being able to send invites, regardless of their trust level?
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### Author:  [@mpalmer](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mpalmer)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/2 "2017-03-04T23:48:57Z")
Well this is weird… we were having a discussion about this the other day and I was led to believe that invites where intrinsically admin-only (/me raises a quizzical eyebrow at @blake) . I’m a non-admin on only a couple of Discourse sites, and I can’t easily find a way to invite someone on those. Where are you seeing invite functionality as a non-admin?
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### Author:  [@blake](https://meta.discourse.org/u/blake)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/3 "2017-03-05T00:23:42Z")
~~If you go into settings: `/admin/site_settings/category/all_results?filter=invite` you can set the 'default invitee trust level` and crank it up to 4.~~ There is not a “staff only” setting that I’m aware of, but if you also check ‘must approve users’ this will ensure that if they aren’t invited by a staff they can’t join unless they are approved by staff.
if you go to `/admin/users/list/leader` you can see everyone who has trust level 4.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/4 "2017-03-05T00:39:19Z")
Invites are allowed to trust level 2 and higher as I recall.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Pavlina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Steve_Pavlina)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/5 "2017-03-05T00:50:30Z")
That item sounds like it does something else, unless the label is just confusing. The label on the left says “default **invitee** trust level,” which would refer to the user receiving the invitation, and the label below the dropdown box says “Default trust level (0-4) for **invited** users,” which I’m guessing also means the same thing. So if I set that to level 4, wouldn’t that mean that newly invited users would get promoted to level 4 upon accepting the invite? If so, that’s definitely not what I want.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Pavlina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Steve_Pavlina)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/6 "2017-03-05T00:52:15Z")
Would setting “max invites per day” = 0 also work? Wouldn’t that mean that no users except admins could send invites?
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Pavlina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Steve_Pavlina)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/7 "2017-03-05T01:03:36Z")
I’m using Discourse for a private membership forum for a club, so only the admin should be permitted to invite new members in (to ensure that invites are sent only to current club members). The forum is for club members only, so we wouldn’t want members inviting non-members to join.
Think of it like a Toastmasters club. Members pay dues to be in the club. It wouldn’t make sense to allow anyone to invite non-members to join the club’s forum if they haven’t joined the club first.
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### Author:  [@blake](https://meta.discourse.org/u/blake)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/8 "2017-03-05T01:22:30Z")
> [@Steve\_Pavlina](#):
>
> So if I set that to level 4, wouldn’t that mean that newly invited users would get promoted to level 4 upon accepting the invite? If so, that’s definitely not what I want.
Yes you are correct, sorry about that I totally read that wrong.
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### Author:  [@fidelio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fidelio)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/9 "2019-04-03T07:31:38Z")
I am in the same situation, a members only. For one reason or another we can not get SSO to work on our main site, hence the need to restrict invites. I want to exclude everyone (incl, moderators) apart from the forum admins.
Is there a way to do this?
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### Author:  [@janbaykara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/janbaykara)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2020, 10:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/10 "2020-01-25T10:25:38Z")
Any updates on this? This is a fundamental feature for a private forum.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/11 "2020-01-25T18:09:57Z")
> [@Steve\_Pavlina](#):
>
> Would setting “max invites per day” = 0 also work?
I think this should work so invites are limited to staff only. Can you check into it @techAPJ?
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/12 "2020-01-25T18:32:11Z")
Setting `max_invites_per_day` to `0` will disable invites for all users except staff (admins and moderators). I remember making staff immune to `max_invites_per_day` setting via:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/4d593d1c186326ed6c4733a3bbe7cf1de04f62fd](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/4d593d1c186326ed6c4733a3bbe7cf1de04f62fd)
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### Author:  [@bar10dr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bar10dr)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/13 "2022-04-17T01:25:52Z")
Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead, but is there a way to set it so only admins can invite?
We have a locked forum, we have mods to manage users but we don’t want to let them handle invites.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-limit-invites-to-admins/58366/14 "2022-04-17T20:19:41Z")
Not at the moment; all staff can send invites, and staff includes mods and admins.