Changing a user's email address when they can't access their account

[Discourse]

This guide explains how to change a user’s email address when they can’t access their original email account and have forgotten their password.

Required user level: Administrator

There are situations where you may need to change a user’s email address on their behalf, such as when they no longer have access to the email associated with their account. This often occurs after migrating from a preexisting system where users logged in with a username and password.

Changing the email address

To change a user’s email address:

1. Go to the user’s preferences page as if you were that user.
   • You can access any user’s preference page by placing their username in this URL: https://discourse.example.com/u/USERNAME/preferences/.
2. Click the button to show their email address.
3. Click the wrench button next to the email address.
4. Enter the new email address and click ‘change’ to update it.

For regular users, only the new email address needs to be verified.

For staff members (admins and moderators), both the old and new email addresses must be verified for security reasons. If a staff member has lost access to their old email, you’ll need to temporarily remove their admin/mod privileges before resetting their email, or use the Rails console method described below.

Alternative method: Using the Rails console

If you need to skip verification of the new email address or change a staff member’s email, you can use the Rails console method.

For detailed instructions on this method, refer to this guide on changing staff email addresses from the console.

Reset password dialog

Discourse provides hints in the reset password dialog for users who have lost access to their original email address:

When users click the help button, they see this dialog:

The “our helpful staff” link directs users to the /about page of your site. To ensure users can contact you this way, make sure to provide contact information on the /about page.

You can customize the text of this dialog by going to /admin/customize/site-texts.

Last edited by @hugh 2024-07-05T01:16:48Z

Last checked by @hugh 2024-07-05T01:16:52Z

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[one1]

I have a user in almost this situation. The difference being that they are logged in currently. However they no longer have access to their primary email account.

Is there a way for them to add a secondary email address and then remove their primary email address? Or will they end up getting locked out during that process?

Also, as I understand the above documentation, is it just trusting that the person contacting the admin is actually who they say they are? It seems like anyone could just ask to have any account changed to a new email and then take it over. Or am I missing something?

[ToddZ]

@one1

is it just trusting that the person contacting the admin is actually who they say they are?

I guess if you trust the request, this is how to do it – but the if is up to you.

Some forums are for friends, clubs, companies, etc. where an admin might know everyone or have a way to verify identity. I don’t think I’d do it in a forum with far-flung users.

[one1]

Right.

I suppose that this is an issue with any website that uses email for verification. You lose your verification and you lose the account.

In this case I ended up asking them to add a secondary email (they still were logged in when they made the request) and then remove their primary (lost) email address.