Help

Getting started

These pages are open without an account, except Your communities and Sign out, which need you to be signed in. The header shows Help on every page. When you are signed out it also shows Sign in, and Register when that link is turned on.

Home

1. Open the site. The heading is "Free tools for self-managed Texas HOAs and condos."
2. Choose Start your HOA's free space to create a community, or Sign in if you already have an account. After you are signed in, the second button is Open the dashboard.
3. The home page also has the board-tips form. That form is described under Board tips.

The footer on every page links to HOACaptain and Protige HOA management. Those sites are separate. This site does not sign you in there.

Start your HOA's free space

Use this when a board is creating the community. The person who submits the form becomes that community's board admin. Residents do not start here.

1. Open Start your HOA's free space from the home page, or follow Register if that link is in the header. Both open the same form.
2. Fill in Name, Email, Password, Community name, City, and State. State starts as TX and is stored as two letters.
3. The password line on the form says "At least 8 characters, with upper and lower case, a number, and a symbol."
4. Choose Create the community.

You are signed in and taken to the Dashboard. The new community uses Central Time until a board member changes it in Settings. The header on community pages shows the community name.

Empty required fields show "The Name field is required.", "The Email field is required.", "The Password field is required.", and "The Community name field is required." An email address the site cannot read shows "The Email field is not a valid e-mail address." If the password misses a rule, or that email already has an account, the form lists the problem and does not create a community. There is no button that adds a second community to the account you are already signed in with. A second community needs its own new account.

The page also says "Already have an account?" and links to Sign in.

Sign in

1. Open Sign in.
2. Enter Email and Password.
3. Choose Sign in.

You stay signed in on this browser. Each visit renews that. After 14 days away, you sign in again. If you were sent here from a community page, you return to that page. Otherwise you go to the Dashboard. If you belong to more than one community and this browser has not chosen one, you land on Your communities instead.

A wrong email or password shows "Those credentials were not accepted." After five failed attempts the account locks and the form shows "This account is locked for a few minutes." That lock lasts about 10 minutes. A site admin who turns sign-in off uses the same lock message. The page also links to Forgot password and Start your HOA's free space.

Forgot password

1. On Sign in, open Forgot password.
2. Enter Email.
3. Choose Email a reset link.

The page then says "If an account uses that email, a reset link is on its way. The link expires in two hours." It shows that sentence whether or not the address has an account, and whether or not a message was sent. A link that is sent has the subject "Reset your HOA Free Tools password" and expires in two hours.

The site limits reset mail to 5 requests for one email address and 20 requests from one network address in an hour. Further requests still show the same sentence and do not send another link. If the site cannot send mail, the page still shows the same sentence. Use support@hoafreetools.com if a link never arrives.

Choose a new password

1. Open the link from the reset email.
2. Check Email. Enter New password and Confirm password. The new password follows the same rules as starting a community: at least 8 characters, with upper and lower case, a number, and a symbol.
3. Choose Save password.

When it works, the page says "Your password was changed. Sign in with the new one." If the two passwords differ, the form says "The passwords do not match." A missing, used, or expired link says "That reset link is not valid. Request a new one."

Sign out

In the header, choose Sign out. You return to the home page. The header shows your name while you are signed in. On community pages it also shows the community name.

Register

When the header shows Register next to Sign in, that link opens Start your HOA's free space. The address /account/register does the same. It does not create a resident account. Residents join from an invite or a request, described below. If Register is not in the header, use Start your HOA's free space on the home page.

Join with an invite

A board member creates a link on Members and addresses it to one email. The link looks like /join/ followed by a code. It works once, only for that email address, and it expires in 30 days.

1. Open the link. The heading is "Join" and the community name.
2. If you are not signed in, enter Your name, Email, and Password. The password uses the same rules as starting a community. The page does not repeat that sentence. Choose Create account and join.
3. If you are already signed in, the page names the email you are using and says your unit or lot stays on your profile, not on this form. Choose Join and the community name.

You land on the Dashboard as a resident of that community. Set a unit or lot later under My listing.

A used, expired, or unknown link says "This invite link is not valid anymore." Opening the link with a different email says "This invite was sent to a different email address." If that email is already an active member, the link is closed and shows the same "not valid anymore" sentence.

Request to join

Someone who does not have an invite can ask the board to add them. There is no menu item for this page. The address is /c/, then the community slug, then /join. The slug is the community name as it was when the community was created: lowercase, with spaces and punctuation turned into hyphens. Renaming the community in Settings does not change this address. If that slug was already taken, it ends in -2, -3, and so on. A site admin can read the slug on the Admin page.

1. Open that address. The heading is "Request to join" and the community name.
2. If you are signed in, choose Send request. The page says your unit or lot stays on your profile.
3. If you are not signed in, enter Your name, Email, and Password, then choose Request to join. This creates the account. It does not sign you in.

The page then says "Your request was sent. A board member has to approve it before you can sign in to this community." Until a board member chooses Approve on Members, that community's pages stay closed. You can still open another community you already belong to. If you are already an active member, the form says "You are already a member. Sign in and open your community." An unknown community says "That community was not found."

Your communities

The menu does not include a switcher. The page title is Your communities. Its address is /communities.

1. Sign in.
2. If you belong to more than one community and this browser has not chosen one, opening the Dashboard or another community page sends you to Your communities.
3. Each row is a button with the community name, your role (Board or Resident), and the city and state. Choose the community name.

You go to that community's Dashboard. This browser remembers the choice. To open a different community later, go to /communities while signed in and choose the other name. A community a site admin has turned off is not listed. If you are not in any community, the page says "You are not in a community yet" and links to Start your HOA's free space. A site admin in that situation who opens a community page is sent to Admin instead.

Privacy

The footer link Privacy lists what the site stores: the name, email, and password for an account; a unit or lot, phone number, and directory choices when someone adds them; announcements, documents, and meeting times the board posts; request notes sent to the board; and email addresses saved for board tips. The directory lists only people who opt in, and only the contact details they choose to show. The page says it is not a legal policy.

Questions about this website

The footer says "Questions about this website:" and links to support@hoafreetools.com. The same line is on the error page and the privacy page. Choosing it opens your email program. This site does not send that message for you.

That address is not the board inbox. A request note goes to the active board members of the community, not to this address. Password reset, invite, and request emails that the site does send end with the product name and this same address.

Board tips

The home page and the Board tips list page (/newsletter) say "We'll email occasional tips for volunteer boards." There is no menu item. The form is on the home page, and the same form is on the Board tips list page.

1. Enter Email.
2. Check I agree to store this address for board tips.
3. Choose Save my email.

Without the checkbox, the form says "Consent is required before this address can be stored." A new address shows "Thanks. Your address is on the board tips list. This site does not send mailings." An address already on the list shows "That address was already on the list. The consent time was refreshed." The site stores the address. It has no button that sends a tip. A site admin can download the list, described under Board tips export.

You do not have access

Opening a page your role cannot use shows "You do not have access" and "That page is limited to another role. If you need it, ask an administrator to update your account." A resident who opens Members, Settings, or Submissions gets this page. The site admin Users page does not assign board or resident. Board is the membership created by Start your HOA's free space. Approving someone on Members makes them a resident.

Page not found and errors

An address the site does not have shows "We couldn't find that page" and a Go to the home page button. A missing document download does the same. Old guide addresses that start with /blog open the home page instead. When a page fails, the error page says "Something went wrong", asks you to try again or contact a board member, and shows the support address. It may also show a reference id.

Board

These steps are for the board member of the community named in the header. On a community page the menu adds Submissions, Members, and Settings. Residents use the same Announcements, Documents, and Meetings pages to read. They do not see the board buttons described here. The person who starts the community is the board member. Members has no control that gives someone else the board role.

Announcements

Open Announcements. Residents and the board see every announcement for this community: the title, the time, and the text. The time uses the same zone label as Meetings. An empty list says "No announcements yet." The Dashboard shows the five newest.

Board only Posting and removing:

1. Choose Post an announcement.
2. The page says "Residents see this on the dashboard as soon as you save it." Enter Title (up to 200 characters) and Body (up to 8,000 characters).
3. Choose Post.

The banner says "Announcement posted." An empty title says "The Title field is required." An empty body says "The Body field is required."

On each announcement, Remove deletes it for the community. There is no confirm step and no edit. Residents do not see Post an announcement or Remove.

Documents

Open Documents. The page says "Board starter templates are outlines, not governing documents." Filter with All, Governing, Meetings, Forms, Notices, Board starter templates, or Other. The current filter is marked. An empty category says "No documents in this category yet."

Choose a title to download a file. A link leaves this site. Linked rows are marked Link. The shared outlines download as Word files (.docx): CC&Rs outline, Bylaws outline, Meeting minutes, Architectural request form, Meeting agenda, and Quorum checklist. They are outlines, not legal documents, and every community can see them. A file the board adds stays in this community only. Choosing the category Board starter templates does not make that file shared.

Board only Adding a file or a link:

1. Choose Add a file or link.
2. Enter Title (up to 200 characters) and choose a Category. Description is optional (up to 2,000 characters).
3. Under Store as, choose File upload or Link.
4. For a file, the page says "Upload a pdf, doc, docx, txt, md, png, jpg, or jpeg file. Maximum size is 10 MB." Choose the file. For a link, enter an http or https address. The box placeholder is https://.
5. Choose Save.

The banner says "Document saved." Other messages:

• "The Title field is required."
• "Choose a category from the list."
• "Choose a file."
• "Allowed types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, md, png, jpg, or jpeg."
• "Files must be 10 MB or smaller."
• "Enter an http or https link."
• "Choose a file or a link."

There is no edit or remove for a document. Residents do not see Add a file or link. They can download this community's files and the shared outlines.

Meetings

Open Meetings. The page starts with "Times are" and a time-zone label. A community on Central Time, the default for a new community, shows "Times are Central Time." Eastern Time, Mountain Time, and Pacific Time, set in Settings, show "Times are local time." Type the meeting as the clock time in the community's zone. The list is not a voting or proxy system. The add form says "Enter the time in" that same label, and "This list is not a voting or proxy system."

Use Previous month and Next month to move the calendar. The month name is between those links. This month lists meetings in the month you are viewing, with the time, the place when you entered one, and the notes. An empty month says "No meetings this month." Upcoming lists other future meetings, up to 12, without the notes. An empty list says "No other upcoming meetings." A year outside 2000 through 2100 is treated as this year. A month outside 1 through 12 is treated as this month.

Agenda outline says it is a one-page outline for a board or member meeting and is not a legal document. Download the agenda outline saves that shared Word file. Quorum checklist says it is a short checklist for writing down the quorum your own documents require and is not a legal document. Download the quorum checklist saves that file. The Dashboard shows the next five upcoming meetings, or "Nothing on the calendar."

Board only Adding a meeting:

1. Choose Add a meeting.
2. Enter Title (up to 200 characters) and Starts. Location is optional (up to 200 characters). Notes are optional (up to 4,000 characters). Starts begins about seven days ahead. Enter the wall-clock time. The site does not convert it.
3. Choose Save meeting.

The banner says "Meeting added." An empty title says "The Title field is required." A Starts value that is not a date is rejected. There is no edit or remove. Residents do not see Add a meeting. They can read the list and download the agenda outline and quorum checklist.

Submissions Board only

Open Submissions. Residents do not see this menu item. The page says "A list of what was sent. There is no status, assignment, or approval step." An empty list says "No submissions yet."

Each row shows When, Type (Architectural request or Violation report), From (name, unit, and email), Description, and Email. Email is Sent or Not sent. There is no approve, assign, or delete button. How a resident sends one is under Architectural request or violation report.

Members Board only

Open Members. The page says "Residents join only with an invite link or after you approve a request. They set a unit or lot on their own profile."

Invite

1. Enter Email. The visible label is Email. Screen readers hear "Email for the invite."
2. Choose Create an invite link and email it.

A blank or unreadable address says "Enter the email address that should receive the invite." The page then shows a one-time link for that email address, the sentence "This link works once, and only for" that address, and Code: followed by the code. The link expires in 30 days. The email subject, when one is sent, is "You're invited to join your HOA on HOA Free Tools."

The note above the link is one of these:

• "The invite was emailed. The link is here if you also want to copy it."
• "Email invites start 10 minutes after the community is created. Copy this link for now." The link is still created. Mail starts only after the community is 10 minutes old.
• "The invite email limit was reached. Copy this link instead." A community can attempt 20 invite emails in 24 hours. The same limit applies to one board member in 24 hours, and to one network address in an hour. The link is still created.
• "This address was already invited in the last day. Copy the link if you still need it." That request does not create a second link.
• "The email was not sent because the public site address is not an https URL. Copy this link."
• "The email did not go out. Copy this link."

Waiting for approval

An empty list says "No requests waiting." For each person, Approve adds them as a resident. The banner says "Member approved." Remove drops the request. The banner says "Member removed from this community." Approve does not make them a board member.

In this community

Each active person shows their name, Board or Resident, and email. Remove asks "Remove this member from the community?" After you confirm, the banner says "Member removed from this community." A removal that arrives without that confirmation says "The member was not removed. Confirm the removal and try again." Removing the last board member is refused: "The last board member has to stay." Removing someone here does not delete their account. There is no control to change a resident into a board member.

Settings Board only

Open Settings. The heading is "Community settings." If you are not in a community, the site sends you to Your communities.

1. Edit Community name (up to 160 characters), City (up to 80), and State (two letters, stored in capitals).
2. Choose Time zone: Central Time, Eastern Time, Mountain Time, or Pacific Time. A new community starts on Central Time.
3. Choose Save.

The banner says "Community settings saved." The header uses the new name. Meeting times use the zone you saved. See Meetings for how that zone is labeled. Renaming does not change the request-to-join address.

Resident

A resident is someone who joined with an invite or was approved on Members. On a community page the menu shows Dashboard, Announcements, Documents, Directory, Meetings, and Architectural request or violation report, plus Help and Sign out. The header shows your name and, on community pages, the community name.

You can read announcements, documents, and meetings for this community. The full steps, including the buttons a board member sees and you do not, are in Announcements, Documents, and Meetings. Short versions:

• Announcements. Open Announcements. Read the title, the time, and the text. An empty list says "No announcements yet." You do not see Post an announcement or Remove.
• Documents. Open Documents. Choose All or a category. Choose a title to download a file, or follow a row marked Link. Shared outlines are marked as board starter templates and are not legal documents. An empty category says "No documents in this category yet." You do not see Add a file or link.
• Meetings. Open Meetings. Read "Times are" and the time-zone label, then use Previous month and Next month. This month shows the time, place, and notes. Upcoming shows other future meetings. Download Download the agenda outline and Download the quorum checklist when those links are on the page. Both files say they are not legal documents. You do not see Add a meeting.

Dashboard

Open Dashboard. The community name is under the heading. Three cards follow.

• Announcements lists the five newest, or "No announcements yet." All announcements opens the full list.
• Upcoming meetings lists the next five, or "Nothing on the calendar." Meetings opens the calendar.
• Documents lists up to six titles, with the shared outlines first. Choose a title to download it or follow a link. Document library opens Documents. The category under a title on the dashboard is the stored category name, so a starter outline may say Templates, Meetings, or Forms. The Documents page labels the Templates category as Board starter templates.

Board members use this same page.

Directory

Open Directory. The heading is "Resident directory." The page says "Only people who opt in are listed. Email and phone appear only when that person chooses to show them." An empty list says "Nobody has opted in yet." The table columns are Name, Unit or lot, and Contact. Only active members of this community who opted in are listed. A pending request to join is not listed. Board members use this same directory.

Choose My listing to edit your own row.

1. The page says "The directory is opt-in. Leave the box unchecked and other residents cannot see you."
2. Edit Name (required, up to 120 characters), Unit or lot (up to 40), and Phone (up to 40).
3. Check List me in the directory to be listed. Check Show my email or Show my phone only if you also want that contact shown.
4. Choose Save.

If you opted in, the banner says "Your listing is visible to signed-in residents." If you did not, it says "Your listing is hidden." Show my email and Show my phone are saved only when List me in the directory is checked. An empty name says "The Name field is required." A unit or lot over 40 characters says "The field Unit or lot must be a string with a maximum length of 40." A phone number the site cannot read says "The Phone field is not a valid phone number."

Architectural request or violation report

Open Architectural request or violation report. The page says "This form saves your note and emails it to the board. It does not track approvals, hearings, or fines." Board members can submit one too. Only the board can open Submissions afterward.

1. Choose Type: Architectural request or Violation report.
2. Check Your name, Email, and Unit, lot or street address. The form fills these from your account when you open it. You can change them. Name is up to 120 characters. The unit line is required and is up to 40 characters.
3. Enter Description (up to 8,000 characters).
4. Choose Submit.

When the email goes out, the banner says "Your submission was saved and emailed to the board." When the note is saved but the email does not go out, the banner says "Your submission was saved. Email to the board did not go out; the board can still read it in the submissions list." The message goes to the active board members of this community. There is no status page to check later.

An empty description says "The Description field is required." An email the site cannot read says "The Email field is not a valid e-mail address." A type that is not one of the two choices says "Choose a request type."

What residents do not see

• Submissions, Members, and Settings are not in the menu. Opening those addresses, or Post an announcement, Add a file or link, or Add a meeting, shows You do not have access.
• Post an announcement, Remove on an announcement, Add a file or link, and Add a meeting are not on the pages you can open.
• Admin is not in the menu unless you are also a site admin. Site admin is a separate role and does not by itself make you a board member.
• You cannot change your password from inside the community. Use Forgot password on the sign-in page.
• You do not see another community's announcements, documents, meetings, directory, or requests. Switch communities from Your communities if you belong to more than one.

Site admin

Site admin only The Admin link is in the menu only for a site admin. Board and resident do not see it. Site admin is not board access. The Users page cannot make someone the board member of a community. That happens when they start a community.

Communities

Open Admin. Under Communities, each row shows the name, city, state, and slug. A turned-off community also says "turned off." An empty list says "No communities yet."

• Turn off shows the community name and "is turned off. Members cannot open it." Those members no longer see it under Your communities.
• Turn back on shows the community name and "is turned back on."
• Remove community asks "Remove this community? Its notices, files, meetings, and requests go with it. Accounts stay." After it is removed, the banner shows the community name and "was removed. The people who belonged to it still have accounts."

The slug on this row is the one used in the request-to-join address.

Users

Open Users. The heading is "People." The page says site admin opens this page, board and resident access is set inside each community, turning off sign-in keeps the account but blocks the password, and removing an account cannot be undone.

The table columns are Email, Name, Unit or lot, Site admin, Directory (Opted in or Hidden), Password, and Account.

• Make site admin or Remove site admin. Removing the last administrator says "The last administrator must stay a site admin."
• Set password uses the box "New password for" that person's name. A password that meets the rules shows "Password updated for" their email. A password that does not meet the rules lists the problem. The person is not emailed.
• Turn off sign-in shows the person's name and "can no longer sign in." Sign-in then says "This account is locked for a few minutes." The last admin must stay able to sign in: "The last admin must stay able to sign in." Turn sign-in back on shows the person's name and "can sign in again."
• Remove account asks "Remove this account? This cannot be undone." Without that confirm, the banner says "The account was not removed. Confirm the removal and try again." You cannot remove the account you are signed in with: "You cannot remove the account you are signed in with." The last admin account cannot be removed: "The last admin account cannot be removed." After a removal, the banner shows the person's name and "was removed."

Board tips export

From Admin, open Board tips export. The heading is "Board tips list." It shows how many addresses are stored and says export is a CSV file and this app does not send the messages. Choose Download CSV. The file is board-tips-subscribers.csv with the columns email, consented_at_utc, and source. Residents cannot download it.

Errors, warnings, and activity

On Admin, Errors and warnings lists recent rows from the server log, or says no rows are in the Serilog SQL table yet and that file logs are still written. Logins, submissions, and email failures lists recent activity: when, what happened, the message, and who. An empty list says "No activity yet."

The page also says a monitoring check can ask how the site is doing, that the check uses a secret key rather than a password, and that the key is not shown here.

Health

On Admin, Health opens the public liveness check. It reports whether the site process is up. It does not require the database. A separate ready check, at /health/ready, reports the database. Neither page is a community tool.