# Sharing Projects with external Organization

You may need to work with external partners such as an annotation company or your clients for some Projects. You can invite external Organizations to your Project so that members from the external Organization can start accessing your Project.

{% hint style="info" %}
You can always invite your external members directly to your Organization as well. This is easier if you know exactly whom you need to invite, otherwise collaboration allows you to remove the overhead of managing members of the external Organization.
{% endhint %}

## Invite external Organization to Project

1. Go to the Project you want to start collaborating with an external Organization.
2. Select the `Setting` tab, and then expand `Advanced settings`.
3. Turn on `Allow other organization to access via link`.  A link will be generated which grants access to this Project. This link can be revoked anytime.
4. Copy the link and share it with a member of the external Organization.  

### Start Collaboration

To start collaborating, a member of the external Organization needs to activate collaboration by clicking the link you shared:  

1. The member is asked to log in to AnnoStation.
2. If the member belongs to more than one Organization, select an Organization with which the Project is going to be shared.
3. Confirm the invitation.

Once it is confirmed, the shared Project will start to appear in both Organizations. The shared Project is indicated so in the list of Projects.

{% hint style="warning" %}
You can only collaborate with [active members](/mastering-annostation/organization/member-types.md) that have an Organization created in AnnoStation. 
{% endhint %}

### Administration of a shared Project

For the external Organization, the shared Project works slightly different compared to standard Projects.

The first member who accepted the invitation acts as a Manager of the Project. 

Managers can add members to the shared Project from their Organization, but unlike standard Projects, they can only contribute to the project without any administrative permissions. 

**To learn more about how Project member roles work in shared Projects, read here:**

{% content-ref url="/pages/-MFnoukYLs8AU3Dxp-Rb" %}
[Project member roles in shared Projects](/mastering-annostation/collaboration/collaborating-with-external-organization/project-member-roles-in-shared-projects.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Workflow in a shared Project

Since two Organizations are contributing to a shared Project, the review process can take place in both Organizations independently.

An initial review cycle happens in the external Organization. Only when an image is approved, it can move on to the final review cycle in the host Organization.

**You can learn more about how the workflow works in a shared Project here:**

{% content-ref url="/pages/-MFoZ7CROmvdcMEUwACr" %}
[Workflow in shared Projects](/mastering-annostation/collaboration/collaborating-with-external-organization/workflow-in-a-shared-project.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Stop Collaboration

Collaboration can be stopped at any time from both ends.

1. Go the Project that you want to stop collaborating.
2. Go to the `Setting` tab.
3. Select `Stop collaborating with <Organization name>`.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.annostation.orni.co.jp/mastering-annostation/collaboration/collaborating-with-external-organization.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.