# Manage members and roles

People's involvement changes over time. A viewer starts helping with data entry and needs to become an editor. Someone leaves the club and should lose access. This page covers changing a member's role and removing a member, and the one safeguard that protects your account from locking itself out.

You need to be an **[owner](https://getkollek.com/en/docs/core-concepts/accounts-users-and-roles)** for everything on this page. The member list and pending invitations are visible only to owners.

## See who is in your account

Open the members area from your account settings. You will see:

- **Members**, each with their name, email, and current role.
- **Pending invitations** that have been sent but not yet accepted, so you know who is still on their way in. Invitations expire after seven days.

## Change a member's role

::::steps
:::step title="Find the member"
In the members list, locate the person whose access you want to change.
:::

:::step title="Pick the new role"
Change their **role** to viewer, editor, or owner. The change takes effect immediately, there is no confirmation email or acceptance step.

::screenshot{label="Member row with the role selector open"}
:::
::::

When Sam's role goes from viewer to editor, Sam can start adding and editing items the moment the change is saved.

:::note
An account must always keep at least one owner. KolleK will refuse to demote the last owner, so you cannot accidentally leave the account with nobody able to manage it. Promote someone else to owner first if you want to step down.
:::

## Remove a member

Removing a member takes away their access entirely.

:::warning
Removing a member deletes their user. They lose access immediately, and this cannot be undone from this screen. If they should come back later, you will need to invite them again and they will start fresh.
:::

Their past contributions do not vanish, though. The [activity trail](https://getkollek.com/en/docs/core-features/activity-feed-and-audit-trail) keeps the record of what they did, because each entry captures the person's name at the time it was written.

The same safeguard applies here as with roles: the last owner cannot be removed.

## Where to next

- Compare what each role allows in [The three roles in practice](https://getkollek.com/en/docs/collaboration/roles-in-practice).
- Bring someone new in with [Invite people to your account](https://getkollek.com/en/docs/collaboration/invite-people).
- If you are winding the whole account down instead, read [Delete an account](https://getkollek.com/en/docs/data-safety/delete-an-account).