How do I customize Populi usernames?

The standard username generated by Populi follows this format:

• First initial, last name, and last two digits of the current year. For example, you give Serena Telliver a user account on January 22, 2020; her username would be stelliver20. When adding a new user account, you also have the option of editing that person's username in the Make This Person a User dialog.

If you'd like to customize the standard username format, you have two options:

• Contact Populi customer support requesting help with customizing your username format. See the "do it yourself" section below to learn about your options.
• Do it yourself!

How to do it yourself

An Account Administrator can set up the custom username format in Account > Account Settings > Security.

In any examples provided below, we'll be basing them on you giving Serena Telliver a user account on January 22, 2020.

1. Go to Account > Account Settings > Security.
2. Find the Account username template setting.
3. Using the bracketed fields and any additional text you'd like to include, enter the template information.
4. Bracketed fields auto-fill with information to create the username. Your options are:

• {FIRST_NAME} inserts the user's entire first name. You can also add a number at the end of the field to include the first few letters of the name. For example, {FIRST_NAME:3} would include the letters ser in Serena's username.
• {LAST_NAME} inserts the user's entire last name. You can also add a number at the end of the field to include the first few letters of the name. For example, {LAST_NAME:5} would include the letters telli in Serena's username.
• {FIRST_INITIAL} and {LAST_INITIAL} give you only the first letter of the person's first or last name.
• {PREFERRED_NAME} and {PREFERRED_INITIAL} gives you the preferred first name (or the first initial of the preferred name). You can also use variables like {PREFERRED_NAME:4} to shorten it in the username. If the user doesn't have a preferred name, this variable will insert the first name instead.
• Any special characters will be stripped from the username. So, a last name like O'Shaughnessy-Black will be rendered oshaughnessyblack.
• {YEAR} gives you the current year in 2 digits (2020 = 20).
• {MONTH} gives you the current month in 2 digits (January = 01).
• {DAY} adds the current calendar day in 2 digits (January 22 = 22).
• {RANDOM} inserts a random number. If you want a random 5-digit number, enter {RANDOM:5}, if a random 7-digit, then {RANDOM:7}, etc. The maximum length is 10.
• {POPULI_ID} includes the person's unique ID number from your Populi database. These are seven or more characters long and are not intuitive to remember, so use this field sparingly.