Your account and signing in

To use Alethris, you create one account with your full name, your email address and a password of at least 12 characters, and then confirm the address by opening the link Alethris emails you. The link works for 24 hours. You cannot sign in until the address is confirmed. Anyone can create an account, and the same account is used for learning, for working at an academy and for starting one.

Where to create an account

The page that creates an account is headed Create your Alethris account, and you reach it in several ways:

• Create an account at the foot of the Alethris sign-in page.
• Create an account on an invitation from an academy, or on an academy's apply page, which reads "Create an account or sign in to apply" (or "to enrol") until you are signed in.
• Creating an account from an academy's own website. Alethris shows its own page, marked "Continuing to academy name", and you return to the academy once your email is confirmed. The academy never sees your password.
• The free-trial button on the Alethris website, such as Start free trial, or Start an academy at the foot of the page that creates an account. Each opens the same form under the heading Start your academy on Alethris. Your own account comes first, and the academy is set up after you sign in.

Create the account

1. In Full name, enter your own name. Academies you apply to or join will see this name, so use the name you want on a certificate.
2. In Email, enter an address you can open now. Alethris sends the confirmation link to it.
3. In Password, enter at least 12 characters, and no more than 128.
4. Tick "I agree to the Alethris Terms of Service and have read the Privacy Notice." Both documents open from the links in that sentence.
5. Choose Create account.

Confirm your email address

After Create account, the page changes to Confirm your email address: "We sent a link to your address. Open it within 24 hours to finish setting up your account."

1. Open the email from Alethris. Open my email app opens the email app on your device, if one is set up.
2. Open the link in the email. A page headed Confirming your email address appears for a moment.
3. When it reads Your email address is confirmed, choose Continue to sign in, and sign in with your email address and password.

If you came from an invitation, an application or an academy's website, signing in takes you back there, so nothing you started is lost on the way through your inbox. A sign-in from an academy's website is held open for 15 minutes; if you confirm your email later, the page reads "Signing in to academy name did not finish", and Start again returns you to where you were going.

If you are already signed in

If the browser is already signed in to Alethris, the page reads You are already signed in, with the address of the account in use. Choose Continue to carry on with that account, or Sign out to create a different one. If you came to start an academy, you can start it with the account you already have; a new one is not needed.

When it does not work

Creating and confirming an account explain each problem in their own words:

• "An account with this email already exists". The address already has an Alethris account. Sign in with it instead. If you have forgotten its password, choose Forgot password? on the sign-in page.
• "Use at least 12 characters." The password is too short. Choose a longer one.
• "Agree to the terms of service to create an account." Tick the box before choosing Create account.
• No email arrives. Check your spam or junk folder, then choose Send a new link. The button counts down for a minute after each link is sent. If you ask too often, Alethris replies "You have asked for several links in a short time" and says how long to wait.
• "This link is no longer valid". The link has expired, or a newer link has replaced it. Choose Back to sign in and sign in with your email address and password: the sign-in page then shows Confirm your email to sign in, where Send a new link sends a fresh one.
• "Your email could not be confirmed just now". The connection dropped or Alethris was busy; the link still works. Choose Try again.
• The confirmed address belongs to another account. If someone else is signed in on the same browser, the confirmation page says which account is signed in. Sign out first if the address you confirmed is not that account's.

One Alethris account signs you in everywhere: at the Alethris Hub and at the address of every academy you belong to. Wherever you start, you type your email address and password on the same Alethris sign-in page, headed Sign in to Alethris. An academy never sees your password: it sends you to that page, and Alethris hands you back once you are signed in.

Sign in at the Hub

The Hub is your own side of Alethris, at app.alethris.com.

1. Open the sign-in page. It reads Sign in to Alethris and "One account across every academy you belong to."
2. Enter your Email and Password. To check what you typed, choose Show password, the eye at the end of the field; Hide password hides it again.
3. Tick Keep me signed in for 30 days only on a device nobody else uses.
4. Choose Sign in.

You arrive at the Hub's Overview, or at the page you were trying to open, such as an invitation or an offer.

Sign in at an academy

You can also sign in at an academy's own address: choose Sign in at the top of its website, or open a page of its learner workspace or academy workspace.

1. The academy sends you to the Alethris sign-in page, marked "Continuing to academy name" with "Sign in to continue to academy name."
2. Sign in with your email address and password, as at the Hub.
3. A page headed "Returning you to academy name" appears for a moment, and you arrive back at the academy, on the page you started from.

If you are already signed in to Alethris in that browser, you skip the password and go straight back. A sign-in that starts at an academy is held open for 15 minutes while you sign in. If you take longer, you are still signed in to Alethris, and the page reads "Signing in to academy name did not finish": choose Start again to return to the page you started from.

When you use the Hub as an installed app

If you have installed the Hub on your device as an app, it does not return you to an academy on its own. The page reads "Continue to academy name" and waits for you to choose the button of the same name. If the academy's own app is installed too, the academy opens there, and the Hub shows "Academy name is open in its own app" with Back to My learning.

How long a sign-in lasts

A sign-in lasts seven days from the moment you sign in. With Keep me signed in for 30 days ticked, it lasts 30 days. Using Alethris does not extend it; when it ends, you sign in again.

Each academy's address holds a session of its own, which lasts seven days. When it ends, the academy sends you through the Alethris sign-in page again, and while you are still signed in to Alethris in that browser, you go straight back without typing your password.

Signing out

Sign out in the account menu ends the session at the place you are using: the Hub, or one academy's address. It does not sign you out anywhere else. To end every session at once, use Sign out everywhere on the Account page in the Hub.

Sign out works without a connection too. You are signed out on the device at once, and the page says "You are signed out on this device" and "Alethris will end the session as soon as you are back online." When the connection returns, Alethris ends the session by itself. If a page headed Finishing signing out stays on screen, choose Try again.

When signing in does not work

The sign-in page explains each refusal:

• "The email or password is incorrect." Check both and try again, or choose Forgot password? to set a new password.
• "Too many sign-in attempts for this account or network." Wait for the time the message gives, then try again.
• "Signing in is not available just now. Try again in a moment." Many people are signing in at once. Nothing has changed, so sign in again shortly.
• Confirm your email to sign in. The account's email address has not been confirmed. Open the link Alethris emailed you, or choose Send a new link.
• "This sign-in has expired". The academy shows this page when a sign-in that started there took longer than it is held open. Choose Sign in again.

Most sign-in problems have a remedy you can carry out yourself. If you have forgotten your password, choose Forgot password? on the sign-in page: Alethris emails you a link that works for 30 minutes, and setting a new password signs you out of every device and every academy. If a sign-in that started at an academy took too long, sign in again from the page that says so.

Set a new password

To set a new password when you cannot sign in:

1. On the sign-in page, choose Forgot password?, beside Password.
2. On Reset your password, enter the Email address of your account and choose Send reset link.
3. The page reads "If that address has an account, a link is on its way." Open the email within 30 minutes. If nothing arrives, check your spam folder before choosing Send a new link.
4. Open the link. On Set a new password, enter a New password of at least 12 characters, and the same again in Confirm new password.
5. Choose Set new password.

The confirmation reads "Your password has been changed. Sign in with the new one." The sign-in page opens, and you sign in with the new password.

The page answers in the same words whether or not the address has an account. Only the newest link works: asking for another stops the earlier ones.

If you are signed in and want to change your password, open Account in the Hub and choose Email me a reset link under Password. The same kind of link arrives, and the steps from step 4 are the same.

Why a new password signs you out everywhere

Setting a new password ends every session on the account: in the Hub, at every academy's address, and on every device. The page says so before you choose: "This signs you out everywhere you are signed in." If you are changing your password because someone else may know the old one, this is what closes the door. Afterwards, sign in again wherever you use Alethris.

Setting a new password through the emailed link also confirms your email address, if it had not been confirmed yet.

When a sign-in at an academy did not finish

A sign-in that starts at an academy is held open for a short time, and it can be used once. If it cannot be finished, the academy shows one of two pages, in its own colours:

• "This sign-in has expired". "A sign-in can be used once, and only for a short time. Signing in again takes you back to where you were going." Choose Sign in again.
• "Sign-in could not be completed". "Nothing has changed, and you are not signed in. Please try again." Choose Sign in again, or the link "Go to academy name" to return to the academy.

On the Alethris side, the same problem reads "Signing in to academy name did not finish", as it does when you finish signing in, or confirm a new account's email, after the 15 minutes. Choose Start again: it begins a fresh sign-in at the academy and returns you to the page you started from, without asking for your password again.

Other refusals and what to do

The sign-in and password pages explain each refusal, and each has a remedy:

• "The email or password is incorrect." Check the address and the password, or set a new password as above.
• "Too many sign-in attempts for this account or network." Attempts are counted for the address on your network and for the network as a whole, so another browser on the same connection does not help. Attempts made on another network do not pause yours. Wait for the time the message gives.
• "Too many reset links have been requested for this address." Wait for the time the message gives, then use the newest link you have.
• "This link is no longer valid". The reset link has been used or has expired. Choose Request a new link.
• Confirm your email to sign in. The address has not been confirmed. Open the confirmation email, or choose Send a new link.
• "This account is not available". The account cannot be used to sign in, for example because Alethris has suspended it. An academy cannot change this. Write to support@alethris.com.

If you can no longer open your email

A reset link can only go to the email address on the account, and the account has no setting to change that address. If you have lost access to it, write to support@alethris.com from an address you can use, and explain which account is yours.

The name on your Alethris account is the one every academy you belong to sees. You change it yourself, on the Account page in the Hub, with Edit name, and the new name reaches every academy. A credential you already hold is the exception: it keeps the name it was issued with, so fix your name before you are issued a credential rather than after.

Where your name appears

Your name comes from your account wherever Alethris shows it:

• In the Hub, on the Account page, in the account menu, and on your Skills Passport.
• At each academy you belong to. The academy sees your name and email address from your account. Staff see it on your applications, on registers, on your work and on your learner record; colleagues see it in the academy's team.
• On credentials. When an academy issues you a credential, the person issuing it checks your name against the academy's records under "Name on the credential". The certificate and the verification page show that name, and say that the academy checked it.

Your name is not how you sign in. You sign in with your email address, so changing your name changes nothing about signing in.

Change your name

1. In the Hub, open Account, or choose Account settings from the menu under your name.
2. On the card that shows your name and email address, choose Edit name.
3. In Name, enter your name as you want academies to see it.
4. Choose Save name.

The dialog closes, and the Hub shows the new name straight away. It then reaches every academy you belong to, and your Skills Passport, without anything more from you.

Credentials keep the name they were issued with

A credential is fixed when it is issued and cannot be edited afterwards, so your new name does not appear on a credential you already hold. The dialog says so: "Credentials you already hold keep the name they were issued with."

If a credential carries a name that is wrong, ask the academy that issued it. An academy corrects a credential issued with a mistake by replacing it: you receive a new credential with a new code and certificate, and the old one is marked as replaced and points to the new one.

Your email address

Your email address appears on the same card, with Verified beside it once confirmed. It is the address you sign in with, and the address Alethris writes to. The Account page has no control to change it: Edit name changes only your name.

If Alethris stops emailing your address, the Account page says so:

• "Emails to … are not being delivered", naming your address: an email to it came back. Check the address with your email provider, then contact Alethris support to have emails sent to it again.
• "Some emails are no longer sent to you" You reported an email from Alethris as spam, so academy announcements and weekly summaries stop. Email about your account, your places and your work still arrives. Email them to me again turns them back on.

When the name cannot be saved

The Edit name dialog explains each refusal:

• "Enter at least 2 characters." A name needs at least two characters.
• "Use at most 120 characters." Shorten the name to 120 characters or fewer.
• "The name could not be changed. Try again in a moment." Nothing was saved. Choose Save name again in a moment.

Every time you sign in, Alethris starts a session for that browser at that address, and the Active sessions card on the Account page in the Hub lists them all. You can sign out one session you do not need, or end every session at once with Sign out everywhere, which signs you out of the Hub and of every academy on every device.

What a session is

A session is one browser signed in at one address. The Hub has its own sessions, and so does each academy's address. As the card puts it: "Each academy domain holds its own session. Signing out of one does not sign you out of the others." A session ends when you sign out, when it is signed out from this card, when you set a new password, or when it runs out: seven days after signing in. A Hub session lasts 30 days instead if you ticked Keep me signed in for 30 days; a session at an academy's address always lasts seven days.

Read the list

To see your sessions, open Account in the Hub and find Active sessions. The sessions are grouped by place:

• Alethris Hub, for sessions on the Hub itself.
• Each academy, by its name and address, for sessions on that academy's address.

Each group says how many sessions it holds. Each row names the browser and the system, such as "Chrome on Android", followed by its network address and when it was last used, such as "Active now" or "2 hours ago". A session Alethris Support holds during a support session you allowed reads Alethris Support, with View only or Can change setup and when it ends; it never shows the support operator's browser or address. The session you are using is marked This device. A group shows its three most recent sessions; choose the link "Show number more" beneath it for the rest. When you have many sessions, the card shows the most recent and says how many there are in all.

Sign out one session

To end a session you do not recognise or no longer need:

1. Find its row under Active sessions.
2. Choose Sign out on that row.

The confirmation reads "Signed out on that device". The session ends at once, even if that browser has gone on using it since your list loaded, and that browser must sign in again to use the address. A page still open in it stops receiving notifications within about fifteen seconds. If the session had already ended, the page says "That session has already ended" and refreshes the list. The row marked This device has no Sign out button; to end the session you are using, choose Sign out in the account menu instead.

Sign out everywhere

To end every session at once:

1. At the foot of Active sessions, choose Sign out everywhere.
2. Read the dialog, Sign out everywhere?: "Every session on every domain ends, including this one. You will need to sign in again."
3. Choose Sign out everywhere.

The Hub takes you to the sign-in page, and any other Hub page open in the same browser asks you to sign in too. Every browser on every device, at the Hub and at every academy, must sign in again, and pages still open in them stop receiving notifications within about fifteen seconds.

Signing out everywhere also clears what the Hub kept for you on the device you are using, as Sign out in the account menu does. It does not clear lessons or work an academy kept on a device for offline use; Sign out in that academy's account menu, on that device, does.

When to use each

Signing out one session, signing out everywhere and setting a new password each answer a different worry:

• A device you no longer have, or a public computer you forgot to sign out of: sign out its session, or every session.
• A session you do not recognise: sign it out, then set a new password, because ending a session does not stop someone who knows your password from signing in again.
• You think someone knows your password: set a new password. On the Account page, choose Email me a reset link under Password. Setting the new password signs you out everywhere as well.

When it does not work

The Active sessions card explains each problem:

• "Could not sign that session out". The session was not ended; the message says why. Try again in a moment.
• "The sessions could not be loaded. Reload the page to try again." The list could not be read. Reload the page; your sessions are unchanged.

Two cards at the foot of the Account page in the Hub look after your data. Your data prepares a copy of everything Alethris holds about you, for you to download. Closing this account signs you out everywhere at once and, 30 days later, removes your name and email address from Alethris unless you sign in and choose Keep my account first. An academy's only owner must hand it on first.

Get a copy of your data

To ask for a copy of what Alethris holds about you:

1. In the Hub, open Account and find Your data.
2. Choose Prepare my data. The card reads Preparing your copy, with the stage it has reached and when you asked.
3. When the card reads Your copy is ready, choose Download my data.

You need not wait on the page: a notification tells you when the copy is ready. The card then says when it was prepared, its size, and the date until which you can download it. After that the card reads Your last copy has expired, with the date the copy was removed once it has been. For a fresh copy at any time, choose Prepare a new copy. A copy interrupted part-way, for example while Alethris restarts, starts again about an hour later.

The copy is one archive of readable files. Each file is one list of records, named for what it holds; a manifest lists every file; the work you handed in is included as you uploaded it; and a note explains the archive and names anything left out, with the reason. Of the staff assistant, it holds your questions but not its answers, which come from other people's records. Times Alethris Support used your account during a support session are listed apart from your own sign-ins, as Alethris Support with when each began, was last used and ended.

Close your account

Closing is for when you no longer want an Alethris account at all.

1. On the Account page, find Closing this account and choose Close my account.
2. Read the dialog, Close your Alethris account?: "You will be signed out everywhere. Nothing is removed for 30 days; to stop the closing, sign in before then and choose to keep the account."
3. Enter Your password. If you confirmed your password a few minutes ago, the dialog does not ask again.
4. Choose Close my account.

You are signed out of the Hub and of every academy, on every device, and taken to the sign-in page.

What stays and what goes

When the 30 days end, your name and email address are removed from Alethris, and your account is shown as "Deleted account" wherever you were named, including your work, groups, assessed skills, completion records and academy search. Your Skills Passport is made private, the headline, about text, links and project summaries you wrote on it are removed, its share links stop working, and work you chose to show on your credentials is taken off them. Its handle stays reserved, so nobody else can take the address. You leave every academy as if you had been removed: your staff roles and cohort assignments end, and places and applications still under way close. Some things stay, as the card says:

• Credentials you have earned stay valid and verifiable, with the name they were issued in, because the academies that issued them and anyone holding the code still rely on them.
• Your payment records are kept for as long as the law requires.
• What an academy recorded about your learning stays with that academy, under a name that is no longer yours. Ask the academy directly if you want it removed.

Keep your account

To stop a closing, sign in within the 30 days. While the account is closing, the Hub shows only Your account is closing, with the date your name and email will be removed. Signing in at an academy while the account is closing brings you to this page too. Choose Keep my account, and the Hub returns as it was.

Signing in on its own does not stop the closing, as the page says.

If you own an academy

An academy cannot be left without an owner. If you are the only owner of an academy, the card shows Transfer ownership first, names the academy, and Close my account stays unavailable.

To hand an academy on, open Academy settings, then Team, in its workspace and choose Make owner… on another active member's row. The Team, roles and permissions guide explains the transfer. Then Close my account becomes available.

When it does not work

Closing, keeping and copying your account each explain a refusal:

• "Enter your password." The password field is empty.
• "The account could not be closed. Check your password and try again." The password was not accepted, or the closing could not start. Nothing has changed.
• "Enter your password to confirm this change." The earlier confirmation ran out; enter your password again.
• "The account could not be kept. Try again in a moment." The closing is still in place. Choose Keep my account again.
• "Your last copy could not be prepared". Ask again with Prepare a new copy, and contact Support if it fails a second time.