# Cannot add user to channel

**URL:** <https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852>\
**Category:** Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [May 26, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852 "2020-05-26T20:06:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hcientist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/hcientist/32/3877_2.png) [@hcientist](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/hcientist)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852/1 "2020-05-26T20:06:43Z")

</div>

#### Summary

A user exists and is available in mattermost for (e.g.) Direct Messages, but does not appear in the search results when trying to add the member to a channel (public or private).

#### Steps to reproduce

Not sure how to reproduce. We are using the following versions. Most of our users authenticate via LDAP through gitlab.

(Updated per suggestion)

```auto
Mattermost Version: 5.23.0
Database Schema Version: 5.23.0

```

#### Expected behavior

I expect to be able to add any existing user to any channel.

#### Observed behavior

The user is not found in the search results (but other users are), and so cannot be added to a channel.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![amy.blais](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/amy.blais/32/7481_2.png) [@amy.blais](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/amy.blais)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852/2 "2020-05-26T22:23:55Z")

</div>

Would you be open to upgrading your server version? Our supported versions include v5.19 and later.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hcientist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/hcientist/32/3877_2.png) [@hcientist](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/hcientist)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852/3 "2020-05-27T15:20:11Z")

</div>

Thanks for the suggestion. We have upgraded to 5.23.0. The issue is still present.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hcientist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/hcientist/32/3877_2.png) [@hcientist](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/hcientist)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/cannot-add-user-to-channel/9852/4 "2020-05-27T15:51:33Z")

</div>

🤦‍♂️Solved:  
In our case, the users (two in question) had either (1) left or (the other one) never been invited to a particular team, but because they are users in another team, we can DM them even when our interface is showing the team they’re not a member of. So adding the existing users to the team in question via the “invite people” feature solved our issue.