I get requests to fix this CONSTANTLY. I’ve done everything in my power to build steps prior to account creation to avoid typos and whatnot but it’s still unavoidable at my company. I just finished typing this whole thing up for myself to reference because I’ve been falling behind on all the requests I keep getting to change emails.
When staff have an account created in softr, we try our best to ensure the email is correct first. Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid (name changes etc.)
How does Softr relate to Airtable?
Inside airtable, we have staff records in a table (Centricity Staff). Each record represents an employee and must have their name fields as well as their email address to be able to create an account in Softr.
Just because a staff record exists in airtable does NOT mean they automatically have a softr account
- We do not want to automatically create accounts for all staff because we keep old employee names in there for record keeping etc. We just mark them as “inactive” when they leave org
We MANUALLY create the staff softr account by triggering an automation that sends an API call to softr to generate the account.
It sends over the name, the email we have listed in airtable, and generates the account with a temporary password that is shared with the employee via a separate email automation that is sent after their account is generated.
Once the account is created in softr’s user account listing, it will attempt to sync that user account by looking at all of the records inside of airtable and matching the email address to the staff record. This is how a logged in user’s actions are tracked.
There is zero method of changing the email address linked for a softr account at this time. It is absurd, I know.
- When you change the email inside of airtable, softr will then realize “oh shoot where’d this record go? I’m dumb and only look at emails. I need my synced airtable record!” and then it creates a new record in airtable with the original email that the softr account has listed.
If you delete an account inside of softr that has already synced to a staff record inside of airtable, it will DELETE the ENTIRE airtable record.
How to change the email so it is correct and staff can access softr & receive email notifications from airtable:
Change the email inside of airtable
You have to basically wait and nudge softr to re-sync with airtable. Usually, I make a minor edit and then double check inside of airtable to confirm it made the new lame duplicate account. When you change email inside airtable, softr is going to try and sync and then be like where’d it go?! You made the staff record invisible to softr.
Confirm the new blank staff record has been created (it’ll just be an empty record with the old email filled in), and then DELETE the Softr account
Yes, this sucks because it means that the user will have to repeat the signup workflow. Annoying. No way for me to get around this.
Reset the Airtable Staff Record: Revert the softr account status to re-trigger account creation with CORRECT email
It’ll just run the same automation again and recreate the account with right credentials
Confirm the blank staff record was deleted in airtable when you deleted Softr
run de-dupe if you feel fancy and extra to confirm
Ensure staff understand that in order to change the email on file they will have to re-complete the account setup process.
- Set password again (use the saved password you already created if you can)
- Re-confirm account set-up is completed (or else they won’t be able to access rest of app)
It’s a pain in the butt for everyone, so we should all strive to reduce the need for this by diligently trying to get email correct the first time around.