Setting up accounts for editors and administrators #

This page walks an administrator through giving a new person access: which kind of account they need, how to create it, how to check that it works, and how to hand it over so that only the new person knows the password. Every step has a screenshot of what you see.

The example uses the address https://www.example.com/editor for the Editor and https://www.example.com/admin for the administration. Your installation may use other addresses, such as https://edit.example.com; see Logging into the Editor.

Which account for whom #

Where you create an account decides what the person may do: an account gets the roles of the user group it is in.

Give editors an account in Editors, never in Administrator users, even when they ask for "full access": an administrator account can change every setting, every role and every other account, and the work of an editor needs none of that. Create an administrator account only for a person who looks after the installation itself.

Every person gets their own account. Never share one account between several people: the version history, the audit trail and the user audit log can then tell who did what.

Before you start #

• You are an administrator and know your own password; you will be asked for it again (Verify it's you).
• You have the new person's first name, last name and e-mail address, and have agreed on a username (for example robin.example).
• You have a second way to reach the person other than e-mail: a phone call, a meeting, or a messenger. You use it to pass on the temporary password.

1. Sign in to the Editor #

Open the address of the Editor, for example https://www.example.com/editor, and sign in with your administrator account as described in Logging into the Editor. As an administrator you see every tab there, including Users.

You can create the account in the administration (https://www.example.com/admin) in the same way; the Editor is recommended because it is the interface the new editor will use, so you see what they will see.

2. Open the Editors group #

1. Click Users in the top menu.
2. In the left column (User accounts), click Editors.

The group opens with its accounts under Sub items.

3. Create a new user #

Under Sub items, press Create new and choose User in the group Users.

If the installation has more than one content language, a page Language selection asks first in which language to create the object: choose the main language (usually English) and press OK.

4. Fill in the account #

1. First name and Last name: the person's name, as it appears in the history and the lists.
2. Under User account:
   • Username: the name the person signs in with. It cannot be changed in the form later.
   • Email: the person's own work address. Each address can belong to one account only.
   • Password and Confirm password: a temporary password. It must meet the site's password rules (at least 10 characters, and not a well-known password). Use a password manager or a random generator, and use it for this account only.
   • Change password at next sign-in: leave it ticked (it is ticked for a new account). The person must then replace the temporary password with their own before they can do anything else.
3. Leave Signature, Image and Two-step sign-in as they are; the person can fill them in later.

Current account status: disabled under the account fields describes the draft: the account can sign in once it is published.

5. Send for publishing, and verify it's you #

Press Send for publishing. Because you are creating a user account, the site asks you to confirm that it is you:

Enter your own password (not the new person's) and press Confirm. The account is then published, and for the next 10 minutes you are not asked again. With a passkey or an authenticator app, the page offers those instead. See Verify it's you.

An administrator's new account in Editors is published at once. When an editor creates an account in Editors, it waits for an administrator's approval first (Approving new editor accounts).

6. Check the account #

Back in the Editors group, the new account is listed:

Click its name and open the Roles tab. An account in Editors has the roles of the group:

If a role is missing, the account is in the wrong group; move it (How do I move a user to another group?). The Policies tab lists every single permission the account has from all its roles.

7. Sign out, and sign in as the new user #

Check that the username and the temporary password work before you pass them on:

1. Press the last button of the header, Logout.
2. On the sign-in page of the Editor, enter the new Username and the temporary password and press Sign in.

The site does not open the dashboard: because the account is marked, it shows Change password with the note that an administrator asked for a new password.

This page proves that the account exists, is enabled and accepts the password. Do not change the password here: that is for the new editor to do. Press Logout in the header (it works on this page too) and you are done checking.

If the sign-in fails instead, see When something goes wrong below.

8. Hand over the sign-in #

Send the new editor the address of the Editor and their username, for example by e-mail:

Your account for the Editor of our website: https://www.example.com/editor, username robin.example. I will give you a temporary password by phone. At your first sign-in you choose your own password.

Pass on the temporary password by the second channel: a phone call, in person, or a messenger that is not your e-mail. Never put the address, the username and the password into one message: whoever reads that message could sign in.

Ask the person to sign in soon. Until they have, the temporary password is known to two people.

9. The editor's first sign-in #

The new editor does the following (you can send them this section):

1. Open the address, enter the username and the temporary password, and press Sign in.
2. The page Change password opens (as in step 7). Enter the temporary password under Current password, then a new password under New password and again under Confirm new password. Generate a strong password makes one; Show shows what you typed. The checklist turns green when the password meets the rules.
3. Press Change password.
4. The site asks Verify it's you once more, "You are about to change how you sign in or the security of your account": enter the temporary password (the one you are replacing) and press Confirm.
5. The page confirms the change:

6. Press Continue. The dashboard of the Editor opens, greeting the editor by name:

From now on only the editor knows the password; the temporary one no longer works, and a mail confirms the change to the account's address. Recommend that they turn on two-step sign-in right away (Your account and signing in).

Creating further editors #

Repeat steps 2 to 9 for each person. Some installations prefer that editors ask for a new colleague's account themselves: an editor creates it in Editors, and it waits until an administrator approves it (Approving new editor accounts).

Creating further administrators #

Only the system administrators, the developers and the owners of the site get an administrator account. To create one:

1. Sign in to the administration (https://www.example.com/admin), click Users and open Administrator users.

   

2. Continue as in steps 3 to 9: Create new > User, fill in the account with a temporary password and the box Change password at next sign-in ticked, Send for publishing, confirm with your own password, check the Roles tab (it shows Administrator), sign in once as the new user, and hand over the sign-in by two channels.

For administrators also:

• Ask them to turn on two-step sign-in at once. A site can require it for administrators (Two-step sign-in).
• Keep the number of administrators small, and never make an editor an administrator to solve a missing permission: give their group the permission instead (Roles and policies).
• Granting the Administrator role is recorded in the audit trail (Security and audit).

When someone leaves #

Disable the account the same day (How do I disable or unlock a user account?). Disabling keeps the name in the history of everything the person did; remove the account only when nothing refers to it any more. The user audit log shows what happened to the account and what it did.

When something goes wrong #

Data protection: an account holds personal data (name, e-mail address). Store only what the work needs, keep the temporary password out of e-mail, and disable the account when the person leaves.

From the console #

The same account can be created from the server, for example in a deploy script, with a password nobody types on a command line: Onboard a new editor. When someone leaves: Offboard someone who leaves.

Related pages #

• What the Editor role allows
• Managing members, for editors
• The user audit log
• Logging into the Editor and Logging into the admin
• Your account and signing in
• How do I add a user or a user group?
• Administrator accounts and access
• Change password at next sign-in, the technical description
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.