Creating and adding new users

There are several ways to add users to your ThingLink organization, depending on your needs and license type. Whether you're inviting a few users or onboarding a large group, you can choose from simple methods like invite codes or more automated options like SSO integrations.

This guide gives a quick overview of each method so you can pick the one that works best for you:

• Invite codes for use during or after registration
• Email invitation
• Import accounts from a CSV file
• Manually account creation in advance
• Use Microsoft SSO (Entra ID / Azure AD)
• Use Google SSO (Google Workspace)
• LMS login via LTI

Please note: some methods' availability depends on your plan. 

If you are new to ThingLink, we recommend using invite codes or CSV import. For larger groups, consider enabling a single-sign-on (SSO) method.

Tip: you can save the gifs from the article and share them with your colleagues or students.

Invite codes

Users can join using an invite code during registration or via “Use invite code” if they already have an account.

There are two types of invite codes:

• Organization's Invite code: Organization → Settings → Invitation options. Note that you must be an admin to access this page.
• Group code: Organization → Settings → Groups. Can be used for joining both the organization and the group. Recommended as it adds users to both the organization and the group.

Note: Groups aren't available on Marketing & Editorial accounts.

Email Invitations

Send an email invitation containing a special link:

• Existing ThingLink users will join your organization.
• New users create an account and are added automatically

School licenses: You can assign student or teacher roles.

To send an invitation, go to the Organization page > Users tab, click the 'Add users' button, choose the users' role, and enter the email address:

If you are a teacher, please note that many schools & districts prohibit students from receiving external emails. We recommend either using invite codes or pre-creating the account using the methods below.

You can also invite a user to a group by using the 'Add users' button directly from the group page.

Importing accounts from a CSV file

This method allows you to upload a simple CSV file with email addresses, passwords, and usernames for each user.

1. Download the template here.
2. Enter an email address, password, and username for each user. Passwords must have at least 10 characters, letters, and numbers.
3. Go to the Organization page -> Users -> click 'Add users' button -> select the 'Import from CSV' tab:
4. School license admins: Select user role (student/teacher)
5. Upload the CSV file and wait for it to process. Your browser will automatically download a new file called 'userlist.csv' containing the login information and any errors that could have occurred.
6. Share the login information and ask the users to sign in at thinglink.com/login.

Note that there must be no accounts associated with email addresses you enter in the CSV file. If a user already has a ThingLink account, ask them to join you using an invite code instead.

Manually create accounts in advance

Pre-create accounts without using real email addresses. 

1. Go to the Organization page -> Users -> click 'Add users' -> select the 'Manual creation' tab.
2. Select user role. Enter the usernames (one user per line). Click the 'Create accounts' button:
3. The system will generate the login information and create the accounts. Once the accounts have been created, your browser will download a CSV file containing fake email addresses (logins), passwords and usernames for each user.
4. Share the login information and ask the users to sign in at thinglink.com/login. 

If you are a teacher, you can use this method to avoid using students' real email addresses.

Enabling Microsoft SSO with Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) integration

• If your organization uses Microsoft Entra ID, you can configure an Azure integration to have new users signing into ThingLink with their Microsoft account automatically join your ThingLink organization.
• If you have a school account, we will also attempt to determine the user's account type based on data from Entra ID, allowing them to skip the registration process.

You can learn more about the Entra ID integration here.

Enabling Google SSO with Google Workspace integration

If your organization uses Google Workspace, you can enable our Google Workspace integration, which will automatically have any new user from your domain join your ThingLink account when they sign in with their Google account.

You can learn more about the Google Workspace integration here.

Using an LTI 1.3 tool

If you've purchased a School or eLearning license, you can connect ThingLink to your LMS using an LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) tool. This will allow your teachers and students to log in to ThingLink or create an account by clicking the ThingLink app button in your LMS.

The LTI 1.3 tool also allows your students to more easily embed ThingLink content to your LMS. Certain LMSes also support grade sync for scenarios.