Personal library vs. workspace library (and licenses)
Line Budgeter keeps two kinds of things strictly separate: what belongs to you and what belongs to a workspace.
Side by side
| Your Project Library (personal) | Workspace | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | You | The Workspace Owner / organization |
| Governed by | Your personal plan: Starter (free), Student, Budgeter, Budgeter Pro | The workspace plan: Studio or Institutional |
| Who pays | You, in Account Manager → Billing → Personal Billing | The Workspace Owner, in Workspace Billing (per seat, annual) |
| Library sections | My Projects, Shared with Me, Elements, Ratebooks | All Projects (shared), My Files (yours, inside the workspace), Elements, Ratebooks |
| Sharing a budget | Share → invite people by email (Viewer / Editor); shows up in their "Shared with Me" | Manage Access on folders/budgets; groups; "Share Outside Workspace" (adds the person as a Guest) |
| Ratebooks | Ratebooks you personally bought in the Ratebook Store | Studio: all ratebooks bundled. Institutional: your own purchases (usable in both places) |
| Storage limit | Your plan's active-budget limit ("Storage Used N / M") | Workspace plan limits |
| Features | Whatever your personal plan includes | Whatever the workspace plan includes, filtered by your role and custom permissions |
Do I need my own subscription to use a workspace?
No. Your access inside a workspace comes from a workspace seat (or a free Guest role) that the Owner assigns — not from your personal plan. You can be on the free Starter plan personally and still be a full Editor in someone's Studio workspace.
Your personal plan only matters when you switch back to Your Project Library. If your personal paid plan has lapsed you'll see the plan-expired notice there, but never while you're inside a workspace.
Seats vs. licenses vs. roles
- A seat (the app also says license) is one paid slot in the workspace subscription. The owner buys a number of seats ("How many team members?") and can add or remove them later under Manage licenses.
- Every role except Guest / View Only uses one seat. Guests are free and unlimited.
- Changing a Guest to a paid role opens Assign Seat ("This role requires a paid workspace seat… Assigning this role will use one of your existing licenses at no additional cost"). If none are free: "No available seats — Increase your workspace seats to assign this role."
- Changing a paid role to Guest opens Release Workspace Seat — the user keeps view-only access and the seat becomes available again.
- A disabled user still occupies a seat; removing a user frees it.
Keeping your personal files separate
- Your personal files never appear to workspace members. Inside a workspace your personal My Files is still only visible to you.
- Moving something into the shared All Projects is an explicit action: right-click → Move To → Workspace (or Copy to Workspace from your personal library). Moving files between Workspace and My Files can be switched off per user by the owner ("Allow moving files between Workspace and My Files").
- When you leave or are removed from a workspace, you are returned to your personal library. Anything you put in All Projects stays with the workspace; your personally purchased ratebooks stay with you.
If the workspace subscription lapses
If the owner's billing can't be renewed the workspace becomes read-only for everyone — you can still view budgets but not edit. The owner sees Workspace Billing → Update Billing; members see Read Only Mode and should contact an admin. If the owner cancels, the workspace deactivates at the end of the paid period; the owner can choose to transfer the data to their personal library first, otherwise it is deleted.