Is it possible to send passwords by bulk mail?

Scenario 1: ConfTool has copied users (or reviewers) from the preceding conference for us.

Scenario 2: We have imported a list of users from the preceding conference ourselves.

Can we send these users their passwords by bulk e-mail?

(A German version of this article is available.)

The answer is: "it depends on ..."

If the password is system-generated or was entered by the organizers, it can be sent by administrators (only) using the bulk mail function:
Overview => Bulk E-mails => Send E-mails to a Group of Users
... using the code {person_password}.

If the password was entered or edited by the users thesmelves it cannot be sent for security reasons:

• Personally entered passwords in ConfTool Pro are encrypted in the database so they cannot be accessed. Consequently they also cannot be sent by e-mail.
• It is not advisable to send personal passwords to users via e-mail, as e-mail is not a secure medium and it might irritate some users to see their password in an e-mail.

In conclusion:
When the user accounts were copied directly from the former conference's database to the new one, the passwords are still encrypted and cannot be sent by bulk mail.
If the user accounts were imported using the data import function of ConfTool, the passwords were usually newly generated, are not encrypted, and can be sent by bulk e-mail.

However, you can send users their user name and ask them to log in using their old password in a bulk e-mail.
If they do not remember their passwords, they can use the function "Lost Password?" on the login screen to retrieve a link to enter a new password in the system.

You find more information on this process in the documentation Helpful Hints for User Registration and Log-In.