External collaborators

You were invited to Cogram by someone outside your organization. Here's what you'll see, what you can do, and how to grow into a full Cogram account.

Someone outside your organization shared an asset with you in Cogram (a meeting, transmittal, RFI, or submittal) and invited you to sign up to view it. This page is for you.

What just happened

A collaborator at another firm used Cogram to send you something. To preserve your control over your own data, Cogram created a new, separate account for your email address rather than dropping you into their organization. Your account is yours; their account is theirs; the share lets you receive their asset into yours.

What you'll see when you sign in

Your account starts in invitee mode, which has a focused, read-receive-respond experience:

• Inbox: the share that was sent to you, plus any future shares to the same email address.

• Directory: your address book of Contacts and Companies. Empty by default; add people as you collaborate.

• Account Settings: name, password, two-factor authentication, notifications.

The full Cogram experience (Field Reports, Email Management, Workflows, Templates, organization-wide settings) is not part of invitee mode. This isn't a trial; it's a deliberately scoped surface so you can review and accept incoming shares without taking on the full setup of an AEC project record.

Accepting your first share

1. Sign in via the link in the notification email or at app.cogram.com.

2. Open Contract Admin > Inbox. The pending share is at the top.

3. Click the share to open it.

4. Pick the project to accept the share into. (If your account has no project yet, create one first from the Projects page, then accept.)

5. Click Accept.

A copy of the asset's key details is created in your project. From then on it's yours: edit, comment, file follow-up emails, generate reports. Attachments and source documents are not copied yet; ask the sender to transmit files directly if you need them.

Previewing without signing up

If the sender enabled the preview link, the notification email contains a link you can open without signing up. The preview is read-only. You can read the asset's details, but accepting, declining, or commenting requires signing in.

Signing up

1. Click Sign up on the preview page or follow the link in the notification email.

2. Your email is pre-filled. Pick a password.

3. Confirm. Your invitee account is ready, with the pending share waiting in your Inbox.

There is no payment, trial setup, or team-invite step in invitee onboarding.

Growing into a full account

Invitee mode is suitable indefinitely if you only ever receive shares. If you want to use Cogram for your own project record-keeping (running your own meetings, sending your own transmittals, managing your own field reports), your account can be upgraded to a full Cogram organization.

This upgrade is currently operator-driven: contact [e-mail] and the Cogram team will provision your subscription, run any setup, and unlock the full UI on your existing organization. Your data, users, and accepted shares stay where they are; only the surface expands.

What "good" looks like

• You can sign in within a minute of receiving the invitation email.

• The pending share is the first thing you see.

• After Accept, the new asset opens in your project.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: I clicked the email link and was asked to sign up, but the email is already mine. Likely cause: Your email isn't in Cogram yet, even if you have other accounts elsewhere. Fix: Sign up; it's a short flow. After sign-up the share is automatically waiting in your Inbox.

Symptom: I can see the preview but the Accept button is disabled. Likely cause: You're not signed in. Fix: Click Sign in in the top right and sign in (or sign up) with the email the share was sent to.

Symptom: I want to invite my own teammates. Likely cause: Invitee accounts don't include teammate management. Fix: Email [e-mail] to upgrade to a full account. Once upgraded, you can add teammates from organization settings.

Symptom: I lost the email and can't find the share. Likely cause: The preview link expired, but the share itself is still valid. Fix: Sign in at app.cogram.com and check Inbox.

Privacy

Your account, your projects, and your data are entirely separate from the sender's organization. The sender sees that you accepted or declined; they do not see anything you do inside your own projects after accept.

For full privacy details see Privacy and Confidentiality.