Username accounts for Communicators

Professionals can create a Communicator account with a username and password instead of an email. This is useful when the Communicator does not have their own inbox yet. The account stays with your organization until you add a personal email or release it.

You create and manage these accounts from Manage Users. The Communicator signs in the same way as any other account, using their username and password.

Overview

• Create without an email. From Manage Users, use Add Communicator, then Use a username instead.

• Sign in with a username. On the sign-in screen, the field is labeled Email or username.

• Your school manages the login. The assigned professional can reset the password, change the username, or add an email from Manage login.

• Password resets go to the professional until a real email is added and confirmed.

• Add an email later if you want the Communicator to stay in the organization and receive password-reset links.

• Release to a personal email when the Communicator should keep their vocabulary and leave the organization.

• The username keeps working after an email is added or the account is released.

Create a username account

These steps are the same on the web and in the app.

1. Sign in with your Professional account.

2. Open Manage Users.

3. Click Add Communicator.

4. On Create with email, click Use a username instead.

5. Enter the Communicator’s full name.

6. Choose a username, or click Suggest. Flexspeak checks whether the username is available.

7. Set a password and confirm it. The password must be at least 8 characters and include a letter, a number, and a symbol.

8. If you are an admin, you can optionally Assign to caseload.

9. Create the account.

After you create the account, Flexspeak shows the name, username, and password once.

• Click Copy password and save the details somewhere safe.

• Click Sign in as that username on this device if you want to sign the Communicator in here. This signs you out of your Professional account on this device.

• Click Close to stay signed in as yourself.

Username rules

• 3 to 30 characters

• Letters, numbers, dots (.), underscores (_), and hyphens (-)

• Must start with a letter or number

• Cannot include @ or spaces

• Must be unique

If a username is taken, Flexspeak shows That username is already taken. Click Suggest again, or edit the username.

On the Manage Users list, the row shows Username: followed by the handle, not an email.

Sign in with a username

1. Open Flexspeak on the web or in the app.

2. Go to the sign-in screen that asks for Email or username.

3. Enter the username and password.

4. Tap Sign In.

The Communicator can use the same username and password on more than one device.

On Create an account, caregivers can open What if the communicator does not have an email? That note explains that a professional can create a username account from Manage Users.

Reset a forgotten password

The Reset your password screen also accepts Email or username.

• If the account does not have a confirmed email, Flexspeak notifies the professional who manages it. The Communicator does not receive a reset link.

• If a professional has already added and confirmed an email, the reset link goes to that inbox.

After a username request is submitted, the screen says Request sent.

To reset the password yourself as a professional:

1. Open Manage Users.

2. Open the Actions menu for that Communicator.

3. Click Manage login.

4. Click Reset password.

5. Enter a new password and share it with the Communicator.

Resetting the password does not sign the Communicator out of devices that are already signed in.

Manage the login

On Manage Users, open Actions, then Manage login. The dialog shows the current username.

From here you can:

Reset password

Set a new password and share it with the Communicator.

Change username

Enter a new username and click Save. The Communicator signs in with the new username from then on.

Add email

Use this when the Communicator should stay in your organization.

1. Click Add email.

2. Enter an email the family or student controls.

3. Click Send confirmation email.

Nothing changes until someone opens that inbox and clicks the confirmation link. After they confirm:

• They can sign in with the email or the username.

• Password-reset links go to that inbox.

• They stay in the organization.

The confirmation email names the organization and the username. It expires in 48 hours.

Release or delete the account

On Manage Users, choose the action to remove the Communicator. For a username account, Flexspeak asks you to choose:

Release to a personal email (recommended)

The Communicator keeps the account and vocabulary, and leaves the organization.

1. Click Release to a personal email (recommended).

2. Enter an email the family or student controls.

3. Click Send confirmation email.

Nothing changes until they click the link. After they confirm:

• The account is no longer managed by the organization.

• They can sign in with the new email or the existing username and password.

Delete account permanently

This deletes the account, username, and vocabulary. Devices signed in as that Communicator stop working. This cannot be undone.

To confirm, type DELETE, then click Delete permanently.

Pending confirmation

After you send an add-email or release request, Manage Users shows Email pending confirmation or Release pending confirmation.

In Manage login or the remove dialog you can:

• See which address the request went to, and when it expires

• Resend the confirmation email

• Cancel request

Canceling or resending invalidates any link that was already sent. The account stays unchanged until a valid link is confirmed.

If the family taps the link, they see Email confirmed, then Go to sign in.

What Communicators see in Settings

A username-only Communicator cannot change their own email or password, and cannot delete the account from Settings.

In Settings, they see:

• Change Password described as Ask the professional who manages this account

• Email described as Your professional manages email until one is added

• Who manages this account, with the organization name and the assigned professional’s name and work email

• Request account deletion, which tells them to ask that professional

School Communicators with a username account do not see staff pages such as Manage Users or organization billing.

Related

• Manage Users

• Sign up as a Communicator or Professional