Error messages when logging in or registering on the platform can appear for multiple reasons. Fortunately, you can undertake a few simple steps to quickly resolve the issue. In this article we will explain the most common problems and solutions.
First, to make it easy to help your users with common login and registration issues, make sure you have a couple of saved replies ready in your inbox, and feel free to share this support article with your users. With a short standard message, 95% of these issues can already be resolved!
Problems with registration
If you receive an error message saying that the e-mail address is already taken by a pending invitation, this means that an invitation has been sent from the platform to the e-mail address of this user. This invitation contains a link which the user should first accept, before the registration process can be completed.
🔐 For security reasons, invitation links expire after 30 days. You'll have to re-invite users in this case.
If the user didn't receive this email, it has probably ended up in their spam box. If the user cannot find the invitation e-mail there either, there are 2 options for you as a platform admin to help the user in completing the registration process:
Are there no important data linked to the invitation? Then you can go to "Users" > "Invite users" > "All invitations" in your admin panel, search for the e-mail address of the user (you'll find the status of this invitation to be on "pending"), and delete the pending invitation. Next, you ask the user to try to register again by visiting the home page of the platform. Now, the error message won't appear anymore, as the invitation is deleted.
Is the issue related to an invitation for an admin or project (folder) manager whom you want to grant certain access rights to manage the platform?
Then you can follow the same process as explained above. You can still grant them the necessary rights (in the user list, or in the settings of a specific project) after they have registered as a normal user via the homepage.
Do you want to save the data linked to the invitation, and do you prefer to complete the registration on the basis of the pending invitation? Then, in your admin panel, go to "Users" > "Invite users" > "All invitations", and "Export all the invitations".
In the exported document, you should search for the e-mail address of the user, and copy the token in the first column that belongs to the e-mail address of that user:
Next, you ask the user to visit "the url of your platform"/invite, and to register there with the individual invitation code you provided.
Example: mycity.govocal.com/invite
On this page, the user will find a pop-up screen for registration by using a personal invitation code (the token), which is the first field to be filled in. This should do the trick!
Are you still encountering an issue after following these steps? Then don't hesitate to get in touch via support@govocal.com we're happy to help!
Problems with receiving the verification code email
If you didn't received this email, it has probably ended up in your spam box, or your email provider has black listed the email. Ask the user to make sure “notification@mail-eu.citizenlab.co” is not blacklisted. If this still doesn't work please contact support.
Problems when logging in
If you have forgotten your password, you can click on 'Forgot password?' in the login screen. After you have entered your e-mail address, an e-mail with a reset link will be sent to that e-mail address. With this link you can set a new password.
Note: For security reasons, the reset link is valid for only 1 hour. If the link has expired, you can simply click on 'Forgot password?' in the login screen again, in order to generate a new reset link.
If you didn't received this email, it has probably ended up in your spam box. If you cannot find the e-mail there either or need help, please contact us via support@govocal.com.
Possible loop for users to get stuck in
If a user does not verify their email address when registering, therefore they do not yet have an active account on the platform, then if they try to log in again later but have forgotten their password then:
They will not be sent the "Forgot password?" link since their account is not yet activated since it has not been verified
They can also not register again with the same email as an account was already created with that email
The only way out of this loop is to delete the user and have them register again. Contact the support team to delete a user in this situation.
User does not appear on the user list
Users will not appear on the user list in the admin back-office until their email address has been verified and therefore their account activated.
User cannot access his account setting
Users cannot access their account settings if they have not verified their email yet as this doesn't count as an active account until it is verified. Ask the user to verify their email address first to have access to account settings.