Every time I attempt to change ownership of an existing PM to an email address not in our system, I get an error rather than a new staged user being created. As I enter the email address, the autocomplete dropdown with the envelope icon option does appear and I do select just as I would with a creat…

It’s not possible to change ownership to an email address. You need to change ownership to an actual user.

OK, so the issue is not creating a staged user prior to ownership change, it’s doing an ownership change with a staged user at all. Is this a technical limitation or a design decision about how staged users should function with regard to content ownership? If a staged user can properly own a PM tha…

Has there been any new insight on this? Every once in a while we have a situation where we need to create a new staged user, then assign them as owner to a topic created on their behalf. Is there a quick and easy way to make this happen?

The best way to create a staged user is to start a PM addressed to the email address for the staged user. Then once the staged user has been created you cna do whatever you need to do with it.

[image] tobiaseigen: Then once the staged user has been created you cna do whatever you need to do with it. Except to assign a post to it. Unless I’m doing something wrong I don’t seem to be able to do that with a staged user.

Ah, yes. It is not possible to change ownership of a post to a staged user. Sorry about the confusion there. Staged users are very limited in what they can be made to do because they are not “real users”.. until they log in. Can you tell me some more about your use case?

[image] tobiaseigen: Can you tell me some more about your use case? Occasionally we need to create a service ticket on behalf of one of our customers. Most of our service and support customers only exist in our Discourse as staged users. It would be the path of least resistance for one of us…

Not sure what you’re suggesting here. Something I can do, or a feature upgrade?

Sorry about that! My phone’s autocomplete betrays me on a regular basis! :facepalm: I fixed it. I’ve passed on the feature request to the staff experience team, but unfortunately am not sure it will ever happen because it would involve a large overhaul of the staged users system. Have you conside…

Can't change post ownership to an email address

Product Support

tobiaseigen (Tobias Eigen) October 15, 2025, 6:59pm 10

That is an interesting case. Maybe staged users need to be treated as real users, for cases like these.

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Can't change post ownership to an email address

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