This article explains the difference between a member and a visitor in Gracely, and how to switch someone between the two.
The short version
Everyone you add to Gracely lives in the same People list. A visitor is simply a person with the Visitor flag turned on. It's a label that helps you tell first-timers and guests apart from your committed members. It doesn't put them in a separate database or limit what you can record about them.
What a visitor can still do
Marking someone as a visitor does not restrict their record. A visitor can still:
Be added to a family
Have giving and attendance recorded
Be added to groups
Receive emails and SMS
Have a full profile, contact details, and custom fields
They show up everywhere a regular person does, just with a Visitor tag so you can spot them quickly.
⚠️ Note: Visitors can't log in to the Church Portal or the My Gracely app. To give someone portal and app access, click Remove visitor status.
How to mark someone as a visitor
When creating a person
Tick Visitor in the create form.
👉 Log in to Gracely to follow along.
On an existing profile
Open the person's profile.
In the actions list, click Mark as visitor (or Remove visitor status to switch them back).
① Mark as visitor in the actions list on a person's profile.
In bulk
On the People list, select the people you want.
Click Mark as Visitors or Remove Visitor Status in the toolbar.
With people selected on the People list, the toolbar shows ① Mark as Visitors and ② Remove Visitor Status.
Automatically, from fast check-in
When a first-time guest checks in by scanning an event's fast check-in QR code and their email isn't in Gracely yet, they're added to People as a visitor automatically, with the name, email and (optional) phone they entered. You'll find them under the Visitors filter, and they show with the First visit badge in the Attendees report. See Fast check-in: let people check themselves in with a QR code.
Finding your visitors
On the People list, use the status filter at the top to switch between Active, Archived, and Visitors. Choosing Visitors shows everyone currently flagged as a visitor.
① Visitors shows everyone currently flagged as a visitor.
Visitor vs archived: not the same thing
These two are easy to mix up, but they do different jobs:
Visitor is a label on an active person. They stay in your active list and counts, just marked as a guest.
Archived moves a person out of your active list (for example, someone who has left the church) while keeping their history. Archived people are excluded from most views and sends unless you specifically include them, and they can't log in to the Church Portal or the My Gracely app.
💡 Tip: Use Visitor for newcomers you hope to welcome in, and Archive for people who are no longer active but whose records you want to keep.