What happens when a user does not remember the username or the password?

Users might have forgotten their username or their password.

In rare cases, some users have not even created a user account, but think they might already have an account (e.g. because they registered for a previous conference a few years ago).

What happens when they try to log in?
How can we help them retrieve their user information?

(A German version of this article is available.)

Each conference has its own ConfTool user database for privacy reasons. Therefore, each user must create a new user account for each new conference, even if he/she has already registered for another conference that used ConfTool before. The old login details are no longer valid for the new conference. Sometimes people created a user account for another event and now think they can use this account for every conference. Please point out that this is not the case.

There is one exception to this rule: With permission of the previous conference organizers, we copy user accounts on request to the next year. In this case, users will be informed on the login page that the user data has been copied from the preceding conference (see image 1). They can then use their old login details.

Registered users
Already registered users who have forgotten their user name and/or password can simply click on "Forgotten your user name?" and/or "Forgotten your password?" on the login page to receive the respective data via e-mail (see image 2). As an admin, you can also send the user name and a new password to a user (see next section).

Not yet registered users
If people have not yet registered and thus do not yet have an account at all, they will receive an error message that the combination of user name and password is not valid (see image 3). As a result, they will not be able to log in. Please also see: A user complains not being able to register.

If the system responds that “no user with your e-mail address is registered with ConfTool”, but the user is sure that he/she has already registered, one of the following reasons may apply:

• The person has used a different e-mail address during the registration process. Please ask the person to try out the other e-mail addresses.
• There was a typo in the e-mail address when setting up the user account. As an admin, you can update the account data on the user details page (see next section).
• The person holds two user accounts, usually with two different e-mail addresses.

Send user name and a new password to user

As an admin, you also have the option to help users who have problems to use the functions to retrieve their login details.

• Please first check the list of all users to find out if a user account already exists:
  Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Users
• If you cannot find the person, he/she probably has not created a user account for this conference yet. In that case, please ask the person to simply register new and create a new user account now.
• If you can find the person, select his/her name to access the user details.
  On the user details page, verify if the e-mail address is correct and matches the e-mail address of the user who has sent you the request. You can also correct a typo in the e-mail address.
  Use the link "Send Password to User" in the right-hand column to send the account details to the user (see image 4). The user will receive both a new password and the user name in one single e-mail.

For further information please see:
Helpful Hints for User Registration and Log-In