Choosing how people sign up
Username and email, email only, or username only — the choice also changes how members recover their account.
- Beginner
- 4 min read
- Applies to 2.0
Pick a method
User Access → Registration, at the top of the tab.
The Registration tab with the three sign-up methods.
| Method | What the visitor types |
|---|---|
| Username and email | Both — what WordPress asks for |
| Email only | Email alone; the username is generated for them |
| Username only | A username and a password, no email asked |
Email only is the one most sites want today: one field fewer, and no member inventing a username they will forget by next month.
It changes more than the form
This setting is read well beyond the registration page. The same choice reshapes:
- the sign-up form itself
- the lost-password flow — what a member is asked for to identify themselves
- magic link and two-step login, which need to know what identifies an account
- reCAPTCHA, on the fields it protects
That is a good thing — the parcours stay consistent — but it means changing this setting on a live site changes how existing members recover their account.
Switching to Email only on a site whose members signed up with usernames does not rename anybody. Existing usernames keep working; only new sign-ups are affected. What changes for everyone is the recovery form.
- You have created a test account with the method you chose
- You have run a lost-password recovery on that account
- If you use magic link or two-step login, you have signed in with them too
Next steps
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