Sending passwords to new members [3095]

• 05-09-2008, 11:25 AM

  6798

  Chief_Apricot Joined about 5 years ago Toronto Posts 4,265

  Sending passwords to new members [3095] Current behavior: For security reasons, user passwords are stored in encrypted form. Thus, they can not be exported from the system or sent out using a macro in mass email. This is inconvenient for the initial system setup - after all the members are imported, there is no simple way to send users their individual passwords. Workarounds: 1) Send passwords using MS Word mail-merge instead. (Since initial passwords are available in the file which has been imported) 2) Send a mass email instructing users to reset their password using 'Forgot password' Desired behavior: Ability to set the initial passwords easily for new members and send them out via a mass email. Notes: Our current thinking is to implement this as an option during import process. Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

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• 05-14-2008, 12:30 AM

  6937 in reply to 6798

  gypse Joined about 4 years ago Posts 223	Re: Sending passwords to new members If implemented about the same time as friendly url's, will be really helpful to me - otherwise, I'll just handle it . . .
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• 05-14-2008, 9:27 AM

  6950 in reply to 6937

  Chief_Apricot Joined about 5 years ago Toronto Posts 4,265	Re: Sending passwords to new members Can you elaborate? I do not see the connection between passwords and friendly URLs. Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot
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• 05-14-2008, 3:00 PM

  6962 in reply to 6950

  gypse Joined about 4 years ago Posts 223

  Re: Sending passwords to new members Because I can't load up my database and start using the new site till I have friendly url's.  So when they come on board, I will do my initial load and inital email.  Anything after that time is of no use to me personally.  This is a requests that benefits each new person once and then becomes a non-issue.  Really nice to have when you are transitioning with a large number of emails to send though!

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• 05-29-2009, 9:07 PM

  12748 in reply to 6962

  kbroders Joined about 3 years ago Posts 22

  Re: Sending passwords to new members I actually create new members manually quite frequently -- they mail in paper forms.  It would be nice to be able to send an email blast when I'm done announcing that their accounts have been activated and their password is [password] (with the password being different for each user.)  What I currently have to do is send out emails one at a time, changing the "Dear ___" and "your password is ___" text each time. I don't like to send a generic password to everyone because some people are very lazy/slow about changing their passwords. Of course the ability to send email blast also requires that I be able to easily select the people that I email to.  In another topic, I have commented that I wish there was a SELECT field beside each entry in the Member Directory (and Attendee Lists) and I can select records and then press SEND EMAIL.

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• 05-29-2009, 10:59 PM

  12758 in reply to 6798

  James Kerich Joined about 3 years ago Posts 80

  Re: Sending passwords to new members [3095] I don't see this as a big issue.  We simply send out a mass e-mail asking users to go to the login and then click the forgot my password link.  Didn't seem to cause anyone any stress. I do like the idea of being able to send out an inital e-mail on a new account setup by the Administrator which say Welcome, here is your login e-mail and password.  That would be useful.

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• 06-05-2009, 6:30 PM

  12950 in reply to 12758

  GLTF Joined about 3 years ago San Francisco Posts 29

  Re: Sending passwords to new members [3095] We ultimately went the Forgot your password route, but would have prefered to email our members a new password. It would be fine if they were asked to change it the first time they log in.  While the forgot password process is not too complicated to web savvy folks, the idea of email to web back to their email, back to the web is plenty to discourage moderate users. We wanted to make it as simple as possible for users to get into the site and start using it.

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• 08-31-2009, 4:16 AM

  14105 in reply to 18613

  kimskim Joined about 4 years ago Posts 176

  Setting up passwords for newly imported members [3095] When I login as an admin and manually add a new member, what is their password?  Is there a way to assign a default password?  The "old" version of WA had a password field for the admin to fill in, but the current version does not. BTW, I very much preferred the old "Add Member" layout.  Everything was pretty much on one screen as far as data entry fields go.  Now things are split up across multiple tabs -- e.g., Contact Info, Login Info, Membership Info.  I find it confusing and error prone. Also, there used to be a useful memo field at the end of the Add Member screen where I could make a note as to the check number, or cash, or whatever note I wanted.  That seems to be gone.

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• 08-31-2009, 7:32 AM

  14106 in reply to 18613

  dinosaur Joined about 2 years ago Posts 10

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? If you use the import function to import your members you can specify a password there.  Otherwise, when adding manually, you first have to add the contact and save.  Then once saved, it depends on that contact's role.  If they are to be an administrator or restricted access person, you can click on the "Login Details" button on their contact page, specify the access and then place their initial password down in the password box.  If they are to be a member, then, after saving the contact, open their contact page and go to the membership tab to assign their membership.  After saving that you can go back to the log-in details and set their initial password. So essentially, the password box becomes available on a contact after you have assigned them some sort of role (either member or administrator). Regards, Ron

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• 08-31-2009, 3:58 PM

  14119 in reply to 18613

  kimskim Joined about 4 years ago Posts 176

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? Ugh.  That's what I saw too.  I was hoping there was some shortcut I was missing.  I miss the old screen.  When I have a dozen or so members to input, I find it too easy to forget to set the password after saving the membership data.  Then the member is locked out it seems. So, again, is there a default password that WA uses? If, in my haste, I forget to set the password explicitly to changeme or something like that before moving onto the next new member, how is the member to login?

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• 09-01-2009, 2:50 PM

  14134 in reply to 18613

  Poetic Apricot Joined about 3 years ago Toronto, Canada Posts 317

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? There isn't a default password. If you do not set a password for the member, they can set their own password using the forgot password link on your site. We are looking into improving this process. Matthieu (Ex-Apricot) Please contact support directly for assistance on any of my posts as I will no longer be checking these forums: support@wildapricot.com

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• 12-05-2009, 10:48 AM

  15462 in reply to 18613

  Teri Joined about 2 years ago Posts 71

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? Has this been addressed? We are about to inform our membership of how to access the files for the first time.  Does everyone still have to use the "forgot password" function or is there a way to send them an initial email that includes their default/initial password?  Is this included in the version about to be released?   thanks Teri OFLA

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• 12-07-2009, 2:22 PM

  15472 in reply to 18613

  Anonymous	Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? Hello Teri: We have not made any changes to the password process yet, so the solution suggested above still stands. We do have plans to improve a lot of these administrative features as we go along, and will be sure to take a closer at this feature.

• 12-07-2009, 9:36 PM

  15475 in reply to 18613

  Teri Joined about 2 years ago Posts 71	Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? Thanks. I will work around it.  Teri OFLA
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• 01-14-2010, 11:22 PM

  16174 in reply to 18613

  BandWired Joined about 2 years ago Posts 6

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? I was thinking that the default password could be generated randomly (wasn't there an old feature where members could generate their own randomized passwords?) and sent as part of the initial email blast sent to the first group. Using the forgot password link is useful, but seems confusing since the emails sent out have instructional text for forgotten passwords, not setting the password for the very first time. Simply changing this: "A request was made to recover a lost password for this e-mail address "  to something more welcoming, and customizable would be a big improvement.

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• 01-15-2010, 5:01 PM

  16200 in reply to 18613

  SWEAtlanta Joined about 2 years ago Posts 36

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? I would also like to see a function where you can have a default password (pre-set by the administrator for all new members). Then, when someone uses the membership form to apply for membership, the default password can be included in this e-mail with a line letting them know to change it.  This would be of particular use when someone registers for an event for the first time. Many of my members get to the "your e-mail matches one in the system!" and then can't find an e-mail with a password in it. Granted, it's easy enough to do "forgot password", but it would be nice to just have a default.

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• 01-18-2010, 2:04 PM

  16242 in reply to 18613

  Anonymous	Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? SWEAtlanta When someone applies for membership they create their own password. Are you saying you'd like a system where the password field didn't display on the form, and they were sent a default (or generated) password with their confirmation email?

• 01-18-2010, 6:37 PM

  16244 in reply to 18613

  kimskim Joined about 4 years ago Posts 176

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? I'd see it more as members set their own password when joining as they do today.  But there should be an easy way for an administrator to specify a default password --  like in the site settings or something -- so that if a password is not specified (e.g., by the admin when adding a member manually, or during a bulk import of new records) the default password is used. Then, the default password should have a macro associated with it that can be used in the new member email messages. While using the Forgot Password link to set a password for a new account technically works, it's very confusing to end users (especially non-technical ones) and a bit bass ackwards.

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• 01-19-2010, 8:53 AM

  16247 in reply to 18613

  Chief_Apricot Joined about 5 years ago Toronto Posts 4,265	Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? We will keep thinking about this but  frankly I do not like the idea about a default password and do not expect we will implement it - too much of a potential security hole. Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot
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• 02-01-2010, 1:43 PM

  16536 in reply to 18613

  kimskim Joined about 4 years ago Posts 176

  Re: What is default password when adding a new member manually? Then at least put the password field back on the main member data entry screen so that when an admin is adding a member manually, he/she can add all the email, name, address, etc. information as well as set the password in one fell swoop without having to first save the member info, then remember to click over to the Contact tab, then click to edit the Login details to edit the password.  When you're adding 50+ members at a time manually, it's just too error prone to remember to do all these steps for each one.  Plus it make the process that much longer.  With one or two records it's not a big deal.  But in the course of adding 50-100 records, it adds up. Also adding a checkbox next to the password field to force the user to change password upon login would be good.  Sort of a one-time-use password feature so that people cannot continue to use changeme as their password. Or, change the "Forgot password" link to read "Set password" or similar so that it is a little more intuitive for new members.  When I've forgotten to set a password for a new member that I added manually, the new members are usually very confused about how to login.  For whatever reason, they don't think to use the Forgot Password link because, in their minds, they haven't forgotten anything -- they've never had a password to begin with.  Of course, you'd have to change the wording of the email that gets sent to them too to be a little less "A request was made to recover a lost password at this email address" and more like "A request was made to set/reset a password for this email address". Just some ideas.  The way it is now is just a pain for admins and confusing to members. (IMHO) :-) Kim

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• 06-12-2010, 2:19 AM

  18613 in reply to 12758

  mkerwin Joined about 2 years ago Phoenix, Arizona Posts 16	Re: Sending passwords to new members [3095] I agree with this suggestion.  I would like to send out a welcome email when they are initially entered with username and password.
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• 08-12-2010, 2:37 PM

  19212 in reply to 18613

  Chief_Apricot Joined about 5 years ago Toronto Posts 4,265

  Re: Setting up passwords for newly imported members [3095] We believe we have a pretty good solution for this. In version 4.) (coming up for release in September) we have two things: 1) special macro that will generate a password reset for a given user. So you can email members using that macro and they will get a link to a page where they can set their passwords.  2) After the import, there will be a link to a list of newly imported members - e.g. to send them the welcome email including password reset link using a macro above.   Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

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• 08-12-2010, 2:46 PM

  19213 in reply to 18613

  Anonymous

  Re: Setting up passwords for newly imported members [3095] Kim: You have to create your member and then go to their login details to assign them a password. A lot of people have expressed what you've said about having membership entry all on one page. In the next version of Wild Apricot, which we plan to release at the end of September, we will be retuning to that set up, and this will include setting the password at the time of creation.

• 09-27-2010, 10:54 AM

  19893 in reply to 6798

  Chief_Apricot Joined about 5 years ago Toronto Posts 4,265

  Re: Sending passwords to new members [3095] This has been released in version 4.0: 1) special macro that will generate a password reset for a given user. So you can email members using that macro and they will get a link to a page where they can set their passwords.  2) After the import, there will be a link to a list of newly imported members - e.g. to send them the welcome email including password reset link using a macro above  Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

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