Member data settings: sign in with a username instead of an email

Member data settings let a School or Enterprise account decide how much personal information its members hold. Members can sign in with a username instead of an email address, skip first and last names entirely, and be stopped from adding phone numbers. It's built for schools, youth programs and secure facilities where members aren't allowed to have an email address, and for any organization that wants to keep as little personal data as possible.

What you'll find here

• What the three settings do
• Turning on usernames instead of emails
• How members register and sign in with a username
• Resetting a username member's password
• Not asking for first and last names
• Stopping members from adding phone numbers
• Deleting phone numbers members already added
• Letting staff keep an email and phone number
• Who can see members' phone numbers
• Turning usernames off again
• Good to know

What the three settings do

Nothing changes for your members until you change one of these settings.

Turning on usernames instead of emails

1. Go to Settings → Data & security → Access settings.
2. In the Member data card, tick Usernames instead of emails.
3. The card now shows your account's login page address. Share this link with your members; it's where they sign in.

From then on, everyone who registers through your account's registration page or an invitation link picks a username instead of entering an email address.

How members register and sign in with a username

Members use your account's own pages, not the general SimplyPrint login. Both use your Organization ID, which you can set in Settings → Organization:

• Register: simplyprint.io/register/your-organization-id
• Sign in: simplyprint.io/login/your-organization-id

When registering, a member chooses a username and a password. A username is 3 to 64 characters long, starts with a letter or number, and can contain the letters a-z, numbers, dots, dashes and underscores (no accented letters). Capital letters are turned into lowercase, so "Student7" and "student7" are the same username. Each username can only be used once inside your account.

Registration has to be open for people to sign up. You can turn on open registration in your organization's registration settings, or share an invitation link. If you require new members to be approved, username members wait for approval like everyone else. See Approving new members.

To sign in, members open your login page and type their username or email and their password. Your Hub login accepts usernames too.

Resetting a username member's password

Username members don't have an email address, so they can't use Forgot password? to get a reset link. If they type their username and click it, they're told to ask an administrator. An administrator sets a new password for them from the Users page:

1. Go to Users.
2. Find the member and open the ... menu on their row.
3. Choose Set password, type the new password (at least 8 characters) and click Set password.
4. Give the member their new password.

You need the Can delete users permission, and you can only set passwords for members whose role you're allowed to manage. Set password appears for members who sign in with a username, and only works for members who don't belong to any other SimplyPrint account.

Not asking for first and last names

With usernames on, you can also untick Ask for first and last name. Username members are then never asked for a name, not when they register and not in their account settings. Wherever SimplyPrint shows a member's name, such as the Users page or print history, it shows their username instead.

Members who already gave a name keep it. The setting only stops SimplyPrint from asking.

Stopping members from adding phone numbers

Untick Allow phone numbers to stop members from storing a phone number. When it's off:

• The phone number fields disappear from members' account settings and notification settings.
• New phone numbers are refused, and ignored at registration and when you import users from a file.
• SMS disappears as a notification channel, and no SMS is sent to members, except roles exempt from member data limits (see below).
• Phone numbers are hidden on the Users page and in the admin directories your members see, except the numbers of exempt members and the account owner, which stay visible.

This setting keeps working even if your account later moves to a plan without member data settings. You can always switch phone numbers back on.

Deleting phone numbers members already added

Switching Allow phone numbers off doesn't delete the numbers members have already saved. They're hidden, and each is cleared when the member next saves the settings page it's on (account settings or notification settings). To remove them all at once:

1. With Allow phone numbers off, click Delete stored phone numbers in the Member data card.
2. SimplyPrint shows how many numbers will be deleted, and how many are kept.
3. Confirm with Delete phone numbers.

Numbers are kept for members who also belong to another SimplyPrint account, since that number isn't only yours to remove, and for the account owner and members whose role is exempt from member data limits (see below).

Letting staff keep an email and phone number

Some people in your account may need a phone number or an email address even when your members don't, for example staff who want SMS alerts. Give their user group the Exempt from member data limits permission. The account owner is always treated as exempt. Members in that group:

• can add a phone number and use SMS notifications, even with phone numbers switched off,
• can add an email address and a name to their account, even if they signed up with a username.

A username member who adds an email address can sign in with either, and can then reset their own password by email.

Who can see members' phone numbers

Seeing other members' phone numbers on the Users page is controlled by the Can see members' phone numbers permission, under Users in your user group settings. Every group that could see the Users tab before this permission existed has it, so nothing changed for existing groups. The account owner always has this permission. Untick it for any group that shouldn't see phone numbers; members of that group also can't search the Users page by phone number. For groups you create later, tick it if the group should see phone numbers.

Turning usernames off again

The Member data card shows how many members sign in with a username only, and SimplyPrint asks you to confirm before turning usernames off. Their accounts and print history aren't deleted: turn usernames back on and they can sign in again straight away.

Good to know

• Joining another account. A member with a username can't join a second SimplyPrint account where someone else already uses that username. They're told why on that account's registration page. To join, they can sign out and register a separate account there.
• Where usernames work. A username only signs in on your account's own login page and on your Hub. Username members use SimplyPrint in a browser or at the Hub, not in the SimplyPrint mobile app.
• Print notifications. Without an email address or the mobile app, username members can only get print notifications by SMS, and only if your account allows phone numbers or their role is exempt from member data limits.
• Single sign-on. Members who sign in with your school's or company's single sign-on keep doing so. Usernames only apply to members who register with SimplyPrint directly, while the phone number setting applies to everyone in your account.

Related articles

• Require 2FA and restrict panel access by IP
• How to invite users to your account
• Managing your users: the Users page
• User groups and permissions: what each one controls
• Approving new members and confirming their email
• Print notifications: get alerted by email, SMS, or app push

Updated on: 28/10/2026