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Groove invitations are more than you think!  If the person you are inviting is not a known "Groover" to you what actually happens is an exchange of credentials and a "three way handshake" so you can bi-directionally authenticate each other.  Also it is worthwhile to remember that while the new member is getting the workspace the invitor and the invitee must be on line at the same time - so IM or pick up the phone!!

Here's some more minutiae:

Inviting someone to a workspace

To invite someone to a workspace:

1.        Go to the workspace.

  2.     In the Workspace Members panel, enter the name or e-mail address of the recipient in the Invite to Workspace box.

Invitation addressing details: When you a type a name, Groove searches for a Groove contact that matches the letters you're typing. You can also select  a contact from the drop-down menu, which includes all Groove contacts recognized by your account: this includes contacts you've added to your personal list in the Launchbar, as well as contacts who are members of other workspaces.

If Groove can't find a match for the name you type, you're prompted to search for the contact.

Click More to see more options for adding or finding recipients in the Add Recipients dialog box.

  3.     Click Go to open the Send Invitation dialog box.

4.     Assign a role to the recipient(s) from the drop-down list.

If you are inviting multiple contacts and want to assign different roles, you must send separate invitations per role.

In addition, unless you're a Manager in the workspace, you can only assign invitees the same role assigned to you (Participants assign the role of "Participant" and Guests assign the role of "Guest").  This is an important concept on which I will come later on.

  5.     If you want to confirm the invitees' invitation acceptance, check Require acceptance confirmation.

 Note: This feature is automatically enabled for all invitations sent via e-mail.

 6.      Add message text if desired.

 7.      Click Invite to send the invitation.

Groove does the following depending on the type of recipient(s) you selected:

• For Groove contacts, Groove sends the invitation as a Groove message.
• For e-mail addresses, Groove sends the invitation via Microsoft Outlook as an e-mail message with a file attachment.

The message contains instructions both for people who already have Groove, and for those who don't. People who already have Groove click a link in the message that opens the invitation. People who don't have Groove click a different link that goes to the Groove download page. Once an e-mail recipient installs and starts up Groove, the workspace invitation should open automatically. If the invitation fails to open automatically, the recipient can return to the e-mail message and open the file attachment to respond to the invitation.

All invitations sent via e-mail require the sender to confirm acceptance before the workspace is sent to the recipient's computer.

Note: If you don't have a Microsoft Outlook e-mail client, a message displays informing you that you cannot send the invitation using this feature. The message describes an alternative e-mail invitation process, which is to copy the invitation to the clipboard and then paste it into another e-mail or messaging client.

You can also start the invitation process from any workspace list. Select the workspace and click Invite to Workspace in the Common Tasks pane to open the Send Invitation dialog box.

Invitation alerts

When you send an invitation, Groove keeps you informed about its progress by posting alerts.

Note: For e-mail recipients, you don't see progress alerts until they open file attachment. From the table below, the first alert you might see is "Inviting Invitee": Opened, waiting for reply..."

The table below summarizes the invitation progress alerts:

Requiring acceptance confirmation is useful for security purposes. It gives you a chance to verify each recipient's identity before you send the workspace. If you check this option, then when the message recipient(s) accept your invitation, Groove displays an alert that prompts you to confirm the invitation.

In the Confirm Acceptance dialog box, do any of the following activities and then click Confirm:

• Click From to open the recipient's contact to verify their identity before sending the workspace.
• Include a message to send when you either confirm or deny the acceptance.

Copying an invitation to the Clipboard

Groove includes standard features for sending workspace invitations as e-mail messages via a Microsoft Outlook client. If you do not use a Microsoft Outlook client for your e-mail, then Groove invitations with e-mail addresses cannot use automated features. If you receive a failure message after attempting to send an invitation to an e-mail address, you can still send the invitation by copying the invitation to the clipboard, and then pasting it into the e-mail client or messaging system of your choice.

  1.     Without closing the Groove invitation, select File-Copy Invitation to Clipboard...

  2.     Select the invitation settings you want and click OK.

  3.     Cancel the Groove invitation.

  4.     Open your e-mail or messaging client.

  5.     Paste the copied invitation into a new message.

The pasted message includes the standard boilerplate text sent to recipients that includes information on downloading Groove, as well as link for accepting the invitation.

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