Managing users as an admin

An account administrator (or admin) is the only one who can add, change, or remove users from an account. Adding a user to your account automatically makes you the admin for that user. An account can have more than one admin.

You can manage users on your account from the Settings → Users & Sharing screen.

Adding users

To add a new user, go to the Settings → Users & Sharing screen and click New user.

From here, you can set some basic information and settings for the user:

  • Name: The user's name. This is the name that will appear in the account's contacts.
  • Username: The user's email address. This is the address they will use to log in.
  • Password: The user's password. A randomly generated password is provided. If you wish to set a different password for the user, you can do so by clicking the Edit button.
  • Plan: The user's subscription plan type. By default, the plan type you already belong to is selected.

You can also choose to set some additional privacy, admin, and retention options for the new user:

  • Quota: You can give the user additional quota for mail storage and file storage. Quota can be increased in increments of 100 GB mail + 50 GB file storage, with a maximum quota per user of 300 GB mail. Quota increments cost the same as one extra user, and changes will be billed/credited pro rata for your remaining current subscription.
  • Privacy: By default, all user data is visible to all admins on the account. Selecting this option will prevent admins from being able to access that user's data, including their login history. Once this option is selected, the only way to re-enable admin access is if the user restores it via the Settings → Privacy & Security screen.
  • Admin: Selecting this option will make this user an administrator for the account.
  • Retention: If the user is on the Business Professional plan, selecting the Keep a tamper-proof copy option will enable tamper-proof email retention for the user. (Tamper-proof email retention is a feature designed for accounts whose business or industry have compliance standards requiring them to keep records of all email communication.)

The above settings for the user can be edited by an admin at any time (see "Editing users" below).

When you're done, click the Purchase button to finish creating the user. The screen will show the cost of the user that you will be automatically billed for (pro-rated to the end of your current subscription), and the cost of the user that you will see on your regular bill in the future.

Converting an alias into a user

If you have an alias that you would like to make into its own user, you'll need to delete the alias before creating the user.

You can delete an alias by going to Settings → Users & Sharing and clicking the Aliases tab. Click the Edit button next to the alias, then click Delete alias.

Once the alias has been deleted, you should be able to immediately create the user.

Editing users

To edit an existing user, go to the Settings → Users & Sharing screen and click the Edit button for the user.

From here, you can make changes to some basic information and settings for the user:

  • Name: The user's name. This is the name that will appear in the account's contacts.
  • Username: The user's email address. This is the address they will use to log in. More information on changing usernames can be found here.
  • Password: The user's password. Admins can reset the user's password or disable two-step verification if the user has lost their authentication device.
  • Disable: If needed, admins can disable the user, preventing them from logging in to their account.
    • Disable login will prevent login access while still accepting new inbound email.
    • Disable login and bounce incoming email will prevent login access as well as bounce any new incoming email back to the sender. Any existing data will remain as-is.
  • Plan: The user's subscription plan type. If you'd like to change this user's subscription plan, this can be done by clicking the dropdown menu and selecting the desired plan.

You can also make changes to quota, privacy, admin, and retention options for the user, as described above.

Admins can make edits to multiple users simultaneously by selecting the checkboxes next to the users, then clicking the Edit button at the top of the list. If multiple users are selected, you can only simultaneously edit the following fields:

  • Disable
  • Privacy
  • Admin
  • Retention

Removing users

Deleting a user is a process cannot be reversed. It will permanently remove all mail, contacts, and calendars for the deleted user.

To delete a user, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Settings → Users & Sharing screen and click the Edit button for the user.
  2. At the bottom of the screen, click Delete.
  3. You will see a prompt asking you to confirm by typing DELETE, then clicking OK.
  4. A Verify it's you box will appear. Enter your password and click Continue. (For more information, see our Password-protected actions help page.)
  5. The user is now deleted.

All mail, contacts, and calendars for the user will be deleted, and the user will no longer be able to log in. Any shared folders or shared calendars owned by this user will be removed from their shared locations. Once a user has been deleted, the username and any other addresses will be available for use.

The account will be given a pro-rated credit to the end of the subscription for the deleted user.

Extra email storage quota

Adding and decreasing storage quota

If a user requires extra storage and is on one of the following plans, the admin can add quota:

  • Individual
  • Duo
  • Family
  • Professional
  • Business Professional

This gives the user additional quota on top of what their subscription plan offers, and costs the same as adding an extra user. The maximum quota per user is 300 GB.

You can decrease quota by going to the user's Edit screen and clicking Decrease quota. If you decrease storage, your account will be partially credited a prorated amount, according to how much time is left in your current subscription.

Note: Setting quota on multiple users at one time will set all selected users to the same storage amount. After setting the quota for multiple users, you can decrease the storage amount if needed.

Increasing storage quota by upgrading

If a user requires extra storage and is on one of the following plans, the admin can upgrade their plan:

  • Basic
  • Standard
  • Business Basic
  • Business Standard

The user will gain additional features along with the extra quota.

If you are a legacy user, you can purchase additional storage after upgrading to a current plan.

View combined login log

Every Fastmail user has a login log, where you can view a history of every time you logged in to your account over the last four weeks. An admin has the ability to see a combined login log for all users in their account. If users have enabled Privacy for their account, then their access history will not appear in the combined login log.

To view the combined login log, go to Settings → Users & Sharing → Retention & Access and click View all logins in the last 4 weeks.

Was this article helpful?
41 out of 93 found this helpful