Adding users directly to a site (bypassing invites)

[bgergens]

I'm very new to Alfresco so please pardon me if this question is obvious. I'm setting up Alfresco for a small organization and in almost all cases, I'll already know who needs to be added to what site before sites and users are even created. I'd like to be able to bypass the whole invite process altogether and add users directly to a site. So far, I haven't figured out how - even as admin, I have to go through the invite process, even to add other users with site admin access.

Is there any way, as site admin, to add users directly to a site without going through the invite process?

[mrogers]

Add a group to the site containing your list of users.

[bgergens]

Well… of course that's what you'd do. Sorry, I suppose that was painfully obvious. Thank you for the help.

[bgergens]

Actually, either this did not work or I've found a bug.

Test scenario:
As admin, I created a site called Marketing, and two test users (test1, test2.) I also created a group called Marketing, to which I added the two test users.
I added the Marketing group to the site, and granted the group Site Manager permission.
Neither of the test users was able to view the More -> Customize Site page - it loads the page, but everything between the Customize Site banner and the footer (where the components - Wiki, Documents, Links, etc. would normally be) is completely blank.
I then used my admin account to invite user test1 to the site via the normal method (again, granting account test1 Site Manager access.) Once I did the manual invite process, user test1 was able to access the customize site page.

So is this a typical difference of users getting permission from invites vs. users getting permission from groups, is this a bug, or have I just done something horribly wrong?