Administration → Users
In the Users menu of the administration site administrators can:
In the Users menu of the administration institution administrators can:
Administration → Users → User search
Note
Site administrators can search for any user on the entire site while institution administrators can only search among the users of their institution(s).
You can search for their
User search
You can combine any search and filter options. However, if you use too many, you may not yield any results.
Filter the users you wish to display by their initials of the first and / or last name.
Filter by login date: You have several options:
Choose a date and time for the login filter by either typing it in or selecting it via the calendar icon .
Filter by duplicate email addresses: Tick this check box if you only want to display users whose email address is in the system twice so you can deal with them more easily.
Note
Normally, duplicate email addresses are not possible, but if a user imports a Leap2A file or if an external authentication method is used, duplicates can happen.
Search: Type the name, display name, username or email address or any partial thereof you wish to search for in the search field. If you turned on the exact search, you need to provide the correct name or email address and not a partial one.
Institution: Choose the institution from the drop-down menu in which you wish to search for the user.
Click the Go button to start searching.
Results per page: Decide how many results per page you want to view.
View your results. The default order is alphabetical according to the first name. However, you can change the order of the results by clicking on a heading and sort that column in ascending or descending order. The profile picture and the name are linked to the profile page of the user. The available columns are:
Click on the username of the user for which you want to take further actions.
Select all or just a few users for bulk actions.
Click the Edit button to perform the bulk actions to
Click the Get reports button to
You can perform a number of bulk actions for users on the Bulk actions page.
User bulk actions
Warning
When you delete accounts, all user data will be lost and cannot be recovered unless from a server backup file.
The user reports contain a range of reports that are generally only available to administrators.
You can download basic user information for easier updating of these via a CSV file.
User reports
Note
You can use this CSV file later on for updating existing accounts.
In addition to downloading basic user information, you can also view all the pages that have been created by the users and with whom they have been shared. This facilitates for example troubleshooting when users cannot view pages of others and the administrator would have to log in to the user account to check page permissions.
Note
This list is only available to site and institution administrators unless staff receive access to this list as well. The site administrator can decide that in the User settings in the option “Staff report access”.
User report page access list
Note
Though all pages, collections and groups are linked, you may not have direct access to them if you are not on the access list or a member of the group yourself.
When the site administrator turned on the logging of masquerading sessions, they are reported here in the user reports.
Report on the masquerading sessions
Administration → Users → User search → Click on a username
On the Account settings page of a user in the administration area, you can perform a number of actions to manage the user’s account. However, you cannot change personal information about this user, e.g. name or email, from this page. This can only be done in the Content area of the user’s account or via the Add users by CSV page.
Overview of the user account settings page
As administrator you have the power to log in as any user that you manage and masquerade as them.
Note
Site administrator can log in as any user while institution administrators can only perform this action for users who are members of their institution(s).
It is a great function for troubleshooting a user account because you see everything as the user would without having to know the password.
Warning
This function can be misused by administrators because you can make changes to the user’s portfolio and artefacts as well as participate in groups while logged in as that user. Users should be aware of this function and that an administrator can enter their account.
Sites should have clear policies around the use of this function so that the privacy of users and their portfolios and collaborative work is protected. Therefore, there should also not be many users within an institution who have administrator rights.
Log in as another user
Stop masquerading as another user
When you want to return to your own account again, click the Become [your name] again link at the top of the browser window.
When the site administrator enabled the logging of all or just masquerading events, administrators may be required to provide a reason for the masquerading and a notification about this may be sent to the users.
Provide a reason for masquerading as another user
When the site administrator decided to send notifications to users when an administrator logs into their account, the users receive this notification in their inbox. Depending on their notification settings, it can also be delivered via email.
Notification a user receives when an administrator masquerades
You can view and change a number of settings for a user’s account.
Note
Depending on the authentication method that is associated with this user, you may not be able to edit all settings.
Site account settings of a user
Change username: Give the user a different username. This field is not available when the account is managed by an external authentication method.
Reset password: Change the password for this user account. This field is not available when the account is managed by an external authentication method.
Force password change on next login: Check this box if the user shall change the password upon the next login. This field is not available when the account is managed by an external authentication method.
Site staff: Check this box if the user shall become a staff member for the entire site.
Site administrator: Check this box if the user shall have full administrative rights for the entire site.
Disable email: Check this box to disable the sending of emails for this user. If email is disabled, notifications and messages can only be viewed in the internal inbox. You can set up your Mahara site so that emails are disabled automatically if they are bounced back.
Warning
When the email address is disabled, users cannot reset their passwords themselves as no email can be sent.
Account expires: Choose the date on which the user’s login is automatically disabled. The default setting is that the date is not specified. You always see the current date in the greyed out date fields. You can set an automatic account expiry date for all users in the account settings of the site configuration.
File quota: Change the storage allowance for a user’s personal files area. Institution administrators may not be able to update the quota if the site administrator disallowed that. The default value as set in the files configuration in the plugin administration.
Quota used: You can see how much this user has already used of their allocated quota.
Authentication method: Choose the authentication method for this user. A site administrator can set up the authentication methods in the institution administration. Depending on the authentication method that you have chosen, you may have to provide a remote username to allow the user to log in.
Note
The field Username for external authentication is only displayed if an authentication method is chosen that requires a remote username. This allows administrators to see if a remote username has been supplied or not.
Tags: A user can be tagged by an administrator. The tag of the institution to which the user belonged prior to joining a new institution is not displayed to avoid its deletion.
Click the Save changes button when you are done editing the settings.
You can view and change settings regarding a user’s membership in institutions. Depending on the site settings for institutions, a user may be added to more than one institution.
Institution settings for a user
Suspend a user if they do not follow the terms and conditions of the site and behave inappropriately. Suspended users cannot log in, but all their content is still available.
Suspend a user
Suspension notice on the user account settings page
You can unsuspend a user from this page or together with other users on the Bulk actions page.
Suspended user tries to log in and gets suspension message
When a user has been suspended, the suspension message appears on the user’s account settings page stating the reason and the date for the suspension and giving the administrators the possibility to unsuspend the user by clicking the Unsuspend user button.
When the user tries to log in, they will see the suspension message and the reason. They can then contact an administrator via the “Contact us” form for further action.
Users can delete their own accounts in their account settings if self-registration is allowed to by their institution. Administrators can also delete user accounts at any time.
Delete a user account
Click the Delete user button to delete this user account permanently. This action cannot be undone. As this is a permanent action, you see a confirmation pop-up window that you will have to acknowledge.
Warning
When you delete a user account, all personal data is wiped from the system. This applies to everything that is in a user’s Content and Portfolio area. This action cannot be undone. The user’s contributions in groups, e.g. forum messages, uploaded files and pages created in a group, are still available, but are made anonymous by changing the name to “Deleted user” as author where an author is shown.
Note
If an account was deleted by accident - either by a user or by an administrator - swift action may result in recovery of (most of) the data from a backup file. This requires access to the server’s backups and the backend of Mahara. More information is available on the wiki under Restoring a deleted user.
Administration → Users → Suspended and expired users
A list of all suspended and expired users is available in the sub-menu Suspended and expired users. Here you can unsuspend / reactivate or delete them.
Note
Site administrators see all users whereas institution administrators only see users who are members of their institution(s).
List of all suspended or expired users
Warning
When you delete a user account, all personal data is wiped from the system. This applies to everything that is in a user’s Content and Portfolio area. This action cannot be undone. The user’s contributions in groups, e.g. forum messages, uploaded files and pages created in a group, are still available, but are made anonymous by changing the name to “Deleted user” as author where an author is shown.
Administration → Users → Site staff
Note
Site staff is only accessible by site administrators.
On this page you can choose which users receive site staff rights. Potential staff members - any user on the site - are listed on the left while existing site staff members are listed on the right.
Give site staff rights
Note
You can also double-click a name and it will be moved to the other side.
Administration → Users → Site administrators
Note
Site administrators is only accessible by site administrators.
Site administrators have powerful rights. They can make far-reaching changes and also log in as other users. Be careful whom you give these rights. One site administrator is needed for each site. The total number of site administrators should be kept small.
Give site admin rights
Note
You can also double-click a name and it will be moved to the other side.
Administration → Users → Add user
You can add users to your site (site administrator) or your institution (institution administrator) by creating accounts for them manually one by one.
Add a user manually
Note
You can only define the default account settings for a user account, but not force the user to keep them forever. You could only do that by customising the system on the code level.
Administration → Users → Add users by CSV
You can use this function to upload new users in bulk via a CSV file (comma-separated file) and to update existing users. The first row of your CSV file should specify the format of your data. For example, it should look like this:
username,password,email,firstname,lastname,studentid
For new users, this row must include:
Note
If you want to update existing users, you do not need to set a password.
You can mix new and existing accounts in your CSV file. When you add a new user, the password field must be present. If you do not wish the password to be changed for existing accounts, leave that field empty for the existing accounts.
Your file must also include fields that are mandatory for all users to fill out and any fields locked for the institution you are uploading the users for.
All other fields are optional. This is the full list of additional fields that you can add in your CSV file upload.
Your CSV file could look for example like the following:
When you have created your CSV file, you are ready to upload it.
Add users by CSV file
Note
Depending on your server settings and / or the size of your installation, you may not be able to upload all user accounts at once. You may wish to upload them in bunches of 100 instead.
After you have successfully invited or added new members into your institution, you can change their authentication method. That can be useful if the authentication method differs from the one in the previous institution and you want to link the new accounts to a remote username using:
Note
The change in the authentication method for existing accounts should be done before users try to log in with their new credentials to avoid the creation of a second account for these users.
You can change the authentication method for multiple users at once to save you time manually updating each user. Changing the authentication method usually also entails changing the remote username (a.k.a. username for external authentication). Therefore, these two are dealt with together to describe the work flow better.
Find users in an institution to change their remote username
User reports page
Update the CSV file with remote username and password
Update user accounts in bulk
Export users in CSV format: Click the Download link so that you get a CSV file which contains all necessary information for you to change the users’ remote username in bulk. This is necessary if their internal Mahara username is not the same as the one they use to authenticate on your system that is linked to Mahara or if they already have a remote username that would be incorrect for your institution.
Open the CSV file in your preferred spreadsheet software. In the column remoteuser, add or change the username that your users have when authenticating in your regular system that you have connected to Mahara. You may also change other fields, e.g. their name, email address etc. If you want to add a new user directly in this CSV file, you can do so as well.
Note
You must provide a password for this new user. All other users do not need to have a value in the password field. If you only want to update existing users, you can leave the password field entirely off.
Go to Administration → Users → Add users by CSV.
Institution: Choose the correct institution and authentication method for which you want to update your users. This allows you to switch all users in the CSV file from one authentication method to another.
CSV file: Choose the CSV file from your computer that you had updated.
Update users: Put a check mark here because you want to update existing user accounts.
General account options: You can make changes to the default account options for all the users, e.g. give them multiple journals by default, change their interface language etc.
Click the Add users by CSV button to start the user update. This process may take a little while depending on how many users you are changing.
You receive a report on the page upon the successful completion of the upgrade. If the upgrade fails, error messages help you to resolve the problem. No users are updated until all errors are resolved.
Note
If you intend to update more than 100 users at the same time, you may run into problems, and the server may reject your CSV file as the update process is a very memory intense one. If that is the case, you would have to split your CSV file into smaller ones with fewer users in them.
You can check that the accounts had their remote usernames added:
See also
If you only want to change the authentication method of certain users but do not have to worry about a remote username or updating any other information, you can change the authentication method directly on the bulk actions screen.