# My Members

This screen displays all Contacts that have a Member ID.
The existence of a Member ID does not necessarily mean this Contact can access any Pages or Files in the Membership Folders. Each Member's Contact must still be tied to a User account before they can login and access any content that is not in a Public Folder.
If the Contact has already registered as a Guest through the Registration Entrance Page, then if you manually add a Member ID and future Expiration Date, they will be considered a Member, and have access to the Membership Folders the next time they login.

## Setting up Members

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### Existing Members through import

If you have existing members that you currently manage outside of your website, you will need to create or import a Contact for each member before they can attempt to register with your website. Membership Access information is located in the Contact, and will need to be defined for each Member so that the website will know that they are approved as a member when they register.
When you create or import Contacts for your members, be sure to include a Member ID and an optional Expiration Date.
TIP: Member IDs do not have to be unique to each User. If you allow an organization-wide membership for your Customers, you can import a Contact for each individual person in the organization, each with the same Member ID. This allows each individual to register and create their own User account but they will all share the same Member ID. If you add an Expiration Date to any Contact sharing a Member ID, the system will expire the membership of all Members that share the same Member ID.
TIP: If you want to grant a lifetime membership to any Member, leave the Expiration Date field blank. You can always fill in a value at any time to expire their membership earlier.

### New Members through online purchase

You can also allow the Member ID (and optional Expiration Date) to be created for you, when a Customer places an Order through the website. This is ideal for providing fee-based membership access.
For these members, you don't need to import or create a Contact for each member ahead of time. Instead:
1) Set the Membership fields in the Product they will be ordering.
2) Make sure that the first Page in your checkout process (i.e. Express Order Page, Billing Information Page, etc.) is located in a Registration Folder so that the Customer will be required to register/login at the time the Order is placed.
When the Order is placed, the Customer will be able to access the contents of all Membership Folders until the Expiration Date. At that point, their login will no longer allow them to access content in Membership Folders.
The Order Number is used as the Member ID, and any optional Membership Renewal (Days) specified by the Product are added to the current date and saved in the Member/Customer's Contact.
TIP: If you want to grant a lifetime membership to the Customer when they purchase, then set the Membership Renewal field in the Product to a large number (e.g. 999999).

### New Members through trial form

You can also allow the Member ID (and optional Expiration Date) to be created for you, when a Registered User submits a Custom Form Page that has the "Membership Trial Days" feature enabled. This is ideal for letting trial members view Membership Folder content for a limited time.
For these members, you don't need to import or create a Contact for each member ahead of time. Instead:
1) Setup a Custom Form Page and enable the "Membership Trial Days" feature in the Custom Form.
2) Place the Custom Form Page in a Registration Folder so the site Visitor will be required to register or login before proceeding to the Custom Form Page.
3) When the Custom Form Page is successfully submitted, the Member will be able to access the contents of all Membership Folders until the Expiration Date. At that point, their login will no longer allow them to access content in Membership Folders.
The Submitted Form's Reference Code is used as the Member ID, and any optional Membership Renewal (Days) specified by the Custom Form are added to the current date and saved in the Member's Contact.
NOTE: Once a Member has been granted membership in this way, they cannot submit another (trial) membership form using the same e-mail address. This prevents abuse of the trial memberships. (There is no way to limit trials by IP address of other means, it simply won't offer any more protection from abuse.)

### Renewing Members through online purchase

You can also allow any member (trial or expired) to renew their membership when they place an Order through the website.
1) Set the Membership fields in the Product they will be ordering.
2) Make sure that the first Page in your checkout process (i.e. Express Order Page, Billing Information Page, etc.) is located in a Registration Folder so that the Customer will be required to register/login at the time the Order is placed.
When the Order is placed, the Customer will be able to access the contents of all Membership Folders until the new Expiration Date. At that point, their login will no longer allow them to access content in Membership Folders.
Since a Member ID will already exist, the Member Id will remain unchanged. The Membership Renewal (Days) specified by the Product are added to the current date and saved in the Member/Customer's Contact.
TIP: You can use the Membership Renewal reminder feature found in the Site Settings to automatically send each Member an e-mail when their membership is about to expire. The allows you to totally automate the membership process.