We're making an important improvement to how Communities work in Access Messenger and how they synchronise with Access EVO Groups.
What's Changing?
Following this update, Community membership will always automatically match the membership of its linked EVO Group(s).
This means that EVO Groups will become the single source of truth for Community membership. Any changes made to a linked EVO Group will be automatically reflected in the corresponding Community.
Action Required Before the Update
Please review all of your active Communities and ensure that the linked EVO Group(s) contain exactly the users who should have access.
⚠️Important: Any user who is currently a member of a Community but is not a member of its linked EVO Group will be automatically removed from that Community when the update is applied.
Key Changes
1. Synchronisation Will Always Be Enabled
The option to enable or disable Community synchronisation will be removed.
Any Community with at least one valid linked EVO Group will be continuously synchronised.
2. EVO Groups Become the Source of Truth
Community membership will be fully reconciled against the linked EVO Group(s) during synchronisation.
As a result:
Users who are in the linked EVO Group but missing from the Community will be automatically added.
Users who are in the Community but not in the linked EVO Group will be automatically removed.
3. Community Names Must Be Unique
Going forward:
New Communities cannot be created with duplicate names.
Existing Communities being renamed must also have unique names.
Existing duplicate Community names will be highlighted in the Admin Panel so they can be updated.
This change does not affect membership synchronisation.
Why Reviewing Memberships Now Is Important
If a user is removed from a Community because they are not included in the linked EVO Group, and is later added back, they will regain access to the Community. However, they will not recover their previous Community history.
To ensure users retain uninterrupted access and access to historical content, please make sure all required users are added to the correct EVO Groups before the update takes place.
Communities With No Linked EVO Group
Some Communities may currently have no valid linked EVO Group, for example if the original group has been deleted in EVO.
These Communities will remain unchanged:
Existing members will retain access.
No membership changes will be made automatically.
The Community will become locked, meaning membership can no longer be modified until a valid linked EVO Group is established.
What You Should Do Before the Update
✅ Review every active Community in the Admin Panel.
✅ Verify that the linked EVO Group(s) contain all users who should have access.
✅ Add any missing users to the appropriate EVO Group now.
✅ Remove users from EVO Groups if they should no longer have access to the corresponding Community.
After the Update
Once the update has been applied:
Manage Community membership exclusively through EVO Groups.
Add or remove users from linked EVO Groups to control Community access.
Review and rename any Communities flagged as having duplicate names.
Thank you for your cooperation as we make Community membership management more consistent, reliable, and easier to administer. If you have any questions, please contact the Support Team via the Digital assistant.