> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Students
> Students are the people you teach, each with lessons and someone who pays.
**People → Students** lists everyone you teach. Adding a student also sets up [who pays](/docs/billing-rules) for them, so they're billed from their first lesson. Each student's page gathers their lessons, billing, contacts, and messages.
## Add a student
A short form sets up the student, their family, and who pays. Click **Add Student → Manually Add**, then:
Enter the student. Under **Who is the student's primary contact?**, choose **Student** if they handle their own lessons and bills, or **Someone else** for a parent or guardian, so the student doesn't need their own email. Either way, the [primary contact](/docs/contacts#primary-contact) needs an email, since they're billed.
Add anyone else in the family, like a second parent, and how they're related.
Choose who hears about scheduling and who gets your lesson notes. See [who gets emails](/docs/contacts#who-gets-emails).
Set the day and time of their first lesson, priced at your first [rate preset](/docs/lessons#rate-presets), if you have one. Or click **Skip for now**, and the student starts as inactive until you add them to a lesson.
Leave **Send welcome and portal invites to contacts** ticked to give the family [portal access](/docs/student-portal#give-a-family-access), then click **Create**.
Harness creates a billing account for the primary contact, so the first lesson has someone to charge. Tick **Add another student** to go straight to a fresh form. The Hobby plan stops at 5 students; see [Your plan](/docs/your-plan).
Students also arrive other ways:
* Families fill in your [sign-up form](/docs/sign-up-form). **Add Student → Shareable Link** copies its link.
* **Make a student** turns someone already in your [contacts](/docs/contacts) into a student.
* **Create student** adds one from a [booking](/docs/scheduling-links#review-bookings).
## Active, inactive, and pending
Every student has a status, and Harness works it out from their lessons, so you never set it.
* **Active:** on an upcoming lesson.
* **Inactive:** no upcoming lesson. They turn active again once you add them to one.
* **Pending:** signed up through your sign-up form, waiting until you [approve or reject](/docs/sign-up-form#approve-or-reject-sign-ups) them. The tab shows how many are waiting.
A lock icon on an inactive student means your studio is over the Hobby plan's limit; see [Your plan](/docs/your-plan).
## The student's page
A student's page puts everything about them in one place; click their row to open it. The sidebar shows their next lesson, their [recurring charges](/docs/recurring-charges), who pays under **Paid by**, and their contacts, with a star on the primary. The tabs hold the rest:
* **Lessons:** every [lesson](/docs/lessons) you've marked attendance for, with whether notes were sent, and a total count.
* **Billing:** who pays for the student under their [billing rules](/docs/billing-rules), and their [charges](/docs/charges).
* **Messages:** every email sent about the student. See [Message history](/docs/messages#message-history).
* **Contacts:** the family and what each person is involved in. See [Contacts](/docs/contacts).
A banner under the name flags anything to fix, such as no contact with an email, or **Billing setup incomplete** until you choose who pays. The **⋯** menu, or a right-click on the student's row, holds every action. On a phone, the sidebar moves to a **Details** tab.
## Make a student inactive
Make a student inactive when you stop teaching them but want to keep their records. After their last lesson, choose **Deactivate** from the menu, and Harness takes them off every future lesson: their private lessons are removed, and group lessons go on without them. Their contacts, billing, and history stay. If they have recurring charges, the dialog lists them under **End these recurring charges**; untick one, like an instrument rental, to keep it billing. On the Hobby plan, inactive students still count toward your 5-student limit; see [Your plan](/docs/your-plan).
To bring them back, choose **Activate** and save the lesson it opens. **Deactivate** shows only for a student with an upcoming lesson, since one without is already inactive.
## Delete a student
Delete a student to remove their personal details for good. Choose **Delete student** from the menu, then type their name to confirm. Their past lessons and charges stay in your records under a nameless "Student #xxxx", so their [account](/docs/accounts) balance doesn't change. Anyone connected only to this student, like a parent with no other students, is deleted with them, and the dialog names them first.
Deleting a student can't be undone. If you've only stopped teaching them, deactivate them instead.
## What your families see
Families hear from you when a student joins. With **Send welcome and portal invites to contacts** ticked, the primary contact gets a welcome email with a link to sign in to the [student portal](/docs/student-portal), plus your [studio policy](/docs/studio-policy) when it's published. Other contacts involved in the student's lessons get a portal invite. The same emails always go out when you approve a sign-up. Deactivating or deleting a student sends the family nothing.
## FAQ
Make them [inactive](#make-a-student-inactive) if they might come back or you want their records. [Delete](#delete-a-student) only to remove their personal details for good.
Your studio went over the Hobby plan's limit when a trial or paid plan ended, so you chose which students to keep. The rest stay locked until you change to the Professional plan. See [Your plan](/docs/your-plan).
A student turns active once they're added to an upcoming lesson, and the list shows it after you refresh the page. If they're still inactive, check they're added as a student on a lesson with a date and time.
Not for a date range. The student's **Lessons** tab lists every lesson you've marked, with attendance, and a total count for all time.
The primary contact needs a valid email, because Harness bills them. Add one, or choose a different primary contact.
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