What You’ll Learn in This Guide
1. What Are Empty Seats?
Empty seats are unassigned editor seats within your organization. They can be:
Purchased by Owners or Admins.
Created when team members are downgraded, removed, or leave the organization.
Important Notes:
Billing for empty seats begins as soon as they are added to a plan, whether or not they are assigned to a user.
Any unassigned empty seats do not renew at the end of the billing cycle (monthly or annual), ensuring you are not charged for unassigned seats moving forward.
If your organization needs additional seats after they have expired, an owner or admin must manually add them again to accommodate new team members.
2. How Are Empty Seats Created?
Empty seats in your organization can be created in two ways: by purchasing additional seats or by removing/downgrading users.
Here's how each method works and what it means for your billing.
By Purchasing Seats:
Who Can Purchase:
Only Owners and Admins can purchase empty seats during:
Plan selection (monthly or annual).
Adding seats to an existing plan.
Billing Details: Billing for purchased seats begins immediately, even if they remain unassigned.
All filled seats automatically renew at the end of the billing cycle (monthly or annual).
By Downgrading or Removing Users:
When Empty Seats Are Created:
Users are downgraded from Editor to Viewer.
Users are removed or leave the organization.
Billing Implications: No prorated refunds are issued for empty seats created during a billing cycle.
Remember, any unassigned empty seats do not renew at the end of the billing cycle (monthly or annual).
Note: Viewers do not require a paid seat, you can add unlimited viewers to your organization at no additional cost. To understand viewer permissions, click here.
3. How to Manage and Assign Empty Seats
Understanding how empty seats can be managed and assigned will ensure your organization is billed accurately. It is important to regularly review empty seats to ensure optimal usage and prevent unnecessary billing.
Below are key details for managing and assigning seats effectively:
Viewing Available Empty Seats:
To check how many empty seats your organization has:
Log in as an Owner, Admin or Editor.
Go to Organization Settings and select the Plans & Billing Tab.
Next to the total number of editor seats, you’ll see the count of empty seats (if any).
Inviting a New User as an Editor:
Send an Invite:
Any Owner, Admin, or Editor can send an organization invite.
Assign a Seat: When inviting a new user as an Editor, the empty seat will automatically convert to a filled seat.
Upgrading a Viewer to an Editor:
Change Permissions:
Upgrade a Viewer to an Editor using the Manage Permissions feature.
Seat Conversion: The empty seat is converted into a filled seat upon upgrading.
FAQs
How do I know if my organization has empty seats available?
Go to Organization Settings > Plans & Billing Tab. If empty seats are available, the count will be displayed next to the total editor seats.
What happens to empty seats at the end of the billing cycle?
Empty seats do not renew automatically, allowing you to adjust the number of seats for the next billing cycle.
What happens if I downgrade or remove a team member?
The seat becomes empty and can be reassigned to another team member.
Can I delete an empty seat to stop billing?
No, but unused empty seats will not renew at the end of the billing cycle.