Editing a User’s Profile
Editing user accounts and their permissions is a role reserved for System Administrators. To edit a user’s profile in Movable Type:
Switch to the System Overview area of Movable Type by clicking on the blog selection menu and choosing “System Overview.”
Click Users > Manage from the System Overview’s main menu. This will open a listing of all users that exist in your system.
Locate the user whose profile you wish to edit and click on their username, which will open the User Profile screen. Here you can set the status of a user, edit basic profile information about the user, assign a password to the user, optionally create a new personal blog for the user, and optionally assign the user system administrator privileges. See below for more details on each of these areas of the User Profile screen.
From this screen you can also use the left-hand navigation menu to view the permissions that the user has on blogs in the system. Learn more about assigning permissions to a user.
Setting User Status
The User Profile screen allows you to set the status of the user to “Enabled” or “Disabled.”
- Enabled means that the user has the ability to log in to Movable Type and perform actions based on the permissions assigned to them.
- Disabled means that the user will be prevented from logging into Movable Type. You can use the “disabled” status to temporarily or permanently disable a user’s account while retaining all of their user information and permissions in Movable Type.
User Profile Information
User profiles are comprised of username, mail and web address (URL), the user’s full name, and other preferences including password. Required fields are denoted by an asterisk (*) within the interface. Below is a brief description of each of those fields:
Username: The username is what the user will use to sign in to Movable Type. Username can be changed at any time and changes take effect immediately.
Display Name: This is the user’s identifying name that will appear on the published blog in the byline of any entries they create. This field is optional.
Email Address: The user’s email address is required by Movable Type for, among other things, the password recovery feature and any email-based notifications (e.g. new comments, new TrackBacks, etc.) delivered by Movable Type.
Website URL: The user’s URL, if appropriate. If the URL and Display Name fields are populated, Movable Type will by default publish an entry byline linked to this URL.
Language: This field allows you to choose the user’s display language for the Movable Type administrative interface. Movable Type ships with six official language packs: Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and English. Many more can be obtained from third-parties or created quite simply.
Text Format: This field allows you to choose the user’s default text formatting filter when creating new entries and new pages. The system defaults to use the blog’s text format setting for each user by default.
Tag Delimiter: This setting dictates your preference for a delimiter when entering tags (covered in Chatper XXX) on an entry. Comma is the default and recommended setting.
Assigning the User a Password
Each of the following fields are required when creating a new user:
Initial Password & Password Confirm: These fields are used to specify a new password. The password must be typed identically in order to be accepted.
Password Recovery phrase: If a user forgets their password and attempts to recover it using the “Forgot password” link on the sign in page, they will be asked for their username and the contents of this field. A password recovery phrase should be something that the user will remember, but doesn’t need to be as difficult as your password since this doesn’t allow access.
Note: Movable Type 5.13 introduced a stronger password encryption algorithm. The older versions of Movable Type only recognized the first eight digits of the password. With the new encryption algorithm, MT5.13 recognizes the password in full length. When you upgrade your installation from the older versions to 5.13, Movable Type users can sign-in to the installation with the old password, but it is recommended to update their passwords to utilize this change.
Creating a Personal Blog for the User
Movable Type 4.0 includes a new feature which allows administrators to automatically create a new blog for new users based on configurable default settings. This may be useful in situations where new members of an organization are given a personal blog by default. We recommend that you configure new user blog provisioning settings before using this option.
If you have configured new user blog provisioning settings, and you wish to automatically create a new blog for this user, simply check this box.
Learn more: Learn more about how to configure automatic blog provisioning for new users.
Assigning system permissions
When you are creating a new user, you have the option to assign them one or more permissions at Movable Type’s system level.
System Administrator: Selecting this option will assign the new user system administrator privileges, and they will automatically be assigned the ability to create and manage blogs, view the system activity log, manage plugins, create users, etc.
Create Weblogs: Selecting this option will give the new user the ability to create new blogs in the system. Learn more about creating blogs.
View Activity Log: Selecting this option will give the new user the ability to view the activity log for the entire system. Learn more about the system activity log.
Manage Plugins: Selecting this option will give the new user the ability to manage plugins on for the entire system. Learn more about plugins and Movable Type.
