<p>I have had this same confusion. As far as Craft is concerned there's really no such thing as &quot;account activation&quot; in the sense we were both expecting - only email verification. It's even more confusing because even using the password reset form on a non-verified account will verify the account - which is fair enough when you think about it, because you are effectively verifying your email address by resetting your password - but you need to be careful about the wording and workflow.</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/2735" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/2735</a></p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/13051" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/13051</a></p>
<p>What I do to have the account activation step is to use User Groups to register people into a custom &quot;Pending&quot; group. Then admins receive an email notification whenever someone successfully verifies their email address asking the admin to go into Craft to review and &quot;activate&quot; their account (by moving them from the Pending user group to a different one). You could of course automate that step if you don't require manual approvals.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-19T13:26:16.773Z
Thx James - its really hard to get my head around the sign up workflow i want to implement and this helps with the mystery so thank you!
joomkit
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-18T07:01:11.347Z
2024-10-18T07:01:11.347Z
James Smith
<p>Craft 5
I have Verify email addresses set to 'yes' and public registration.</p>
<p>Front end form used for reg is created as described here <a href="https://www.craftcms.com/knowledge-base/front-end-user-accounts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.craftcms.com/knowledge-base/front-end-user-accounts</a></p>
<p>When registering the user is in a pending state and receives an account activation. They can then verify and become active in their user status.</p>
<p>I may be pedantic or confused but is activating your account intended to be verifying your email? I was expecting an extra stage of verifying email first then activating based on your verification.</p>

<users><verification>
Verify email addresses confusion - help required clarifying
# Verify email addresses confusion - help required clarifying

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-10-16)

Craft 5
I have Verify email addresses set to 'yes' and public registration.

Front end form used for reg is created as described here <https://www.craftcms.com/knowledge-base/front-end-user-accounts>

When registering the user is in a pending state and receives an account activation. They can then verify and become active in their user status.

I may be pedantic or confused but is activating your account intended to be verifying your email? I was expecting an extra stage of verifying email first then activating based on your verification.

**Tags:** users, verification

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-10-18. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

I have had this same confusion. As far as Craft is concerned there's really no such thing as "account activation" in the sense we were both expecting - only email verification. It's even more confusing because even using the password reset form on a non-verified account will verify the account - which is fair enough when you think about it, because you are effectively verifying your email address by resetting your password - but you need to be careful about the wording and workflow.

<https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/2735>

<https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/13051>

What I do to have the account activation step is to use User Groups to register people into a custom "Pending" group. Then admins receive an email notification whenever someone successfully verifies their email address asking the admin to go into Craft to review and "activate" their account (by moving them from the Pending user group to a different one). You could of course automate that step if you don't require manual approvals.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thx James - its really hard to get my head around the sign up workflow i want to implement and this helps with the mystery so thank you!  

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