The email is already in use

If you see "has already been taken" next to the Email field, a login with that address already exists with you. It isn't a bug: each email can have only one login with you, and that login applies to all your events and years. Here you can see where the message appears and what to do in each case.

One login per email

• A login (email and password) belongs to you as the organizer, not to the individual event. The person uses the same login for all your events and years and has a profile in every event they're signed up for.
• So an email can only be used by one person with you. Two people can't share an address, not even across events.
• The address may be taken by a profile in an earlier year that you can't see under Members in the event you're in. An organizer admin can look the address up under Users on the organizer page and see all the events the person is in. See Users and organizer admins.
• A login that was never confirmed also takes the address.
• With other organizers in Crewstack the person has a separate login. That has no effect on you.

Where the message appears

New Member. You create a person in Members or on a team, and under Email it says "has already been taken". The person already has a profile in this event, or the email is blacklisted with you. If the person only has a login from another of your events, you get no message: the profile is created on the login the person already has, and they keep their password. If the person has resigned from this event, Crewstack instead asks "A person with this email has previously resigned. Do you want to recreate them as …?", and you can click Yes, recreate member.

Edit Member. You change Email under Login on a profile to an address that another login with you already uses. The same happens when the crew member changes their own email on their profile.

Invite passive user. You invite a passive user with an email that already has a login with you. See Passive users.

The crew member never sees the message when signing up. If they enter an email Crewstack knows, they're asked for their password instead, with the text "Use your password from last time that you signed up at …". If they're already signed up for the event, they're sent to the login with the message "You have already signed up for …. Try to login instead."

What to do

New Member gives the message. The person is already in the event. Go to Members, click Show advanced, set Confirmed, Completed signup, Resigned and Blacklisted to All, and search for the email. See Can't find a person in the search. If the person has resigned, restore them. If they're blacklisted, use Un-blacklist. See Resigned users – find and restore and Resign, blacklist or delete a user.

A crew member who took part last year wants to sign up again. They shouldn't create a new user. Ask them to enter the email they used last time and log in with their password when Crewstack asks for it. If they can't remember it, they click Forgotten your password? and get a link by email. The answers from their last signup are filled in already, so they only have to change what's different. Don't let them sign up with a new email instead. That turns them into two people in Crewstack.

A person wants to switch to an email that is in use. The person already has another login with you with that address, typically from an earlier year. Decide which login to keep. If the current login should have the address, free it first: find the other profile, click Edit Member, and change Email under Login to a different address. Or have a super admin remove the other login with Delete. Then change the email on the profile you're keeping. You can only change the email of people with a lower role than your own. See A crew member or admin can't log in.

Two people share one email. That isn't possible. One of them has to use a different address as their login. If you want to keep the shared address, you can use a data field of the type Secondary email. It may be the same as another person's login, but emails from Crewstack still only go to the login address. See Secondary email.

Two profiles can't be merged

Crewstack can't merge two logins or two profiles into one. If a person has ended up with two logins, for example because they signed up this year with a new email, choose which login the person should use from now on:

1. Write down the teams and shifts the profile that's going away has in this event.
2. Remove the wrong profile. Resign removes it from this event but keeps the login, so the address is still taken. Delete removes the login from all your events and frees the address again. Only super admins can delete. See Resign, blacklist or delete a user.
3. If the right login isn't signed up for this event, ask the person to sign up with it, or create them with New Member on the right email.
4. Add the person to the teams and shifts again.

Pitfalls

• Last year's login was never confirmed. The crew member is asked for their password and then refused with "You have to confirm your email address before continuing." See The confirmation email doesn't arrive.
• If the crew member changes their own email, it has to be confirmed. They get an email at the new address, and the profile says "Email change has been requested. To confirm change confirmation email has been sent." until they've clicked the link. If you change the email as an admin, it applies straight away.
• The email is shared across all your events. If you change the email on a profile, the person's login changes in all your events and years.
• Delete applies to all events. Delete removes the person from all your events, including previous years, and can't be undone. Only use it for a login that should go completely.