Troubleshoot account email issues

To troubleshoot user issues, you'll want to understand how your system populates user email addresses.

When a user authenticates into your system using Single Sign-On, your system receives a UID.

Your system then attempts to use this UID to retrieve an email address for the user account from the following sources (in order):

  • Data import: If the UID matches a record in your data import and that record has an email address, your system uses this value

  • Manual data entry: If your data import doesn't include the record or a valid email address, your system uses the value manually entered onto the user account record

  • Authentication attribute: If no email address was manually entered onto the user account, your system uses the email address attribute returned from authentication

These sources are listed in order of priority, meaning that if your system finds an email address from your data import, it will overwrite a value manually entered on a user account.

If your system can't find an email address in any of these sources, you'll have users without email addresses.

If your system can't find a source for a user's email address, an admin will see the following message:

There are users in the system without email addresses. Please visit the Settings Page to view these users.

To fix this situation:

  1. Contact your IT department (or Blackbaud Customer Support).

  2. Provide the list of users from Site, Settings, Users Without Email.

  3. Ask that these users be included in your next import file.

If your system uses whitelist authentication, the email address will be set and maintained via your data import or manual entry.

If these sources conflict, your system uses the info from your data import file.

Two important notes:

  • Maintaining Access: If a recipient user does not have an email address specified in the data import file (such as the user no longer being included in the file), their account will be deactivated until the address is restored — such as being added back to the file

  • Defining Sign In Credentials: Because the email address on file for recipient accounts is updated through the data import process, if the data import updates the email address on file, this immediately impacts how the recipient signs in. They must immediately start signing in with the new email address — attempts to sign in with the old email address will be unsuccessful.

Use email aliases to prevent usersfrom accidentally creating new account.

Though users won't receive any emails at these alias accounts:

  • Your system can use them to match previously authenticated users

  • Users can utilize them to log in to the system