# Adding members to a Private or Hidden group

**Category:** [Community](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/community-1)
**Updated:** 2026-10-04

## Two ways in: request, or be added

For a **Private** group, a member who finds it in the directory can request to join. The request sits pending until a Group Admin or a community admin/moderator approves or declines it — nothing is granted automatically.

For a **Hidden** group, there is no request button, so there are only two ways to end up a member:

- **Direct add** — from the Group's Members page, search for an existing community member by name or email and add them straight in.
- **A group-targeted invite** — the community invite dialog has an optional “Add to group” field. Send that invite to someone who is not a community member yet, and accepting it creates their membership *and* adds them to the group in the same step. This is the only way to bring in someone who was not already part of the community.

### What a Group Admin sees

The Members page for a Group lists the current roster, any pending join requests (Private groups only), and an “Add members” search box. Removing someone from a Group only removes them from that Group — it does not touch their community membership.
### Re-requesting after a decline

Declining a join request is not a permanent block. If the same member requests again later, the request simply goes back to pending — a change of mind, on either side, is not treated as a special case.

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## Related Articles

- [Track community analytics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/track-community-analytics)
- [Registering for an event, and the waitlist](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/community-events-registering)
- [Moderate posts and comments](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/moderate-posts-and-comments)
- [Community events you can subscribe to](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/community-webhooks-and-api)
- [Groups: sub-communities with their own admins](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/community-groups-overview)

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