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

Documentation Site Management
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:bookmark: 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.

:person_raising_hand: 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.

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

:warning: 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:

Reset password dialog
Reset password dialog1440×453 33.2 KB

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

Help dialog for password reset
Help dialog for password reset1433×617 42.1 KB

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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