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Joomla 2.5 Tutorials – How to Remove Password from Account Activation Emails

Joomla 2.5 Tutorial – I recently noticed that the password is showing up in user account registration activation emails that users receive when they create a new account on my Joomla 2.5 website.  It is strange that Joomla chose to have this feature as this is not best practice.  I want to modify the activation email so that it does not send out the users password in clear text.  For example, see below:

1.  User creates a new account and clicks on ‘Register’.  They will get a message that says:

Joomla 2.5 - User Account Created and Registration and Activation Email Sent to User
Joomla 2.5 - User Account Created and Registration and Activation Email Sent to User

2.  The User then the user will receive an email registration confirmation email that looks like this:

Hello Elaine,

http://yourdomain.com/index.php?option=com_users&task=registration.activate&token=123123152312313123123

After activation you may login to http://yourdomain.com/ using the following username and password:

Username: cmsmind
Password: cmsmindpassword

3.  The password is showing in the email.  High risk!!! Must remove.

Below is the high level overview of how to remove the password from the activation email:

  • Access the Extensions – Language Manager
  • Add a New Language Override
  • Search for the text you want to change = Constant
  • Click on the Search Results
  • Edit the Email Text

Steps:

Joomla 2.5 Extensions - Language Manager
Joomla 2.5 Extensions - Language Manager

1.  Access the Extensions – Language Manager

You can edit your user registration activation emails via your Joomla 2.5 backend.  The Language Manager is where you can edit your email text.

  • Login to your Joomla 2.5 backend administrator panel
  • Click on ‘Extensions’, ‘Language Manager’

2.  Add a New Language Override

In the language manager you can manage many installed languages.  You can have multi-languages installed if your site caters to many different countries.  I only have one language installed right now – English (United Kingdom) which is language type = en-GB.

Joomla 2.5  - Language Manager Overrides
Joomla 2.5 - Language Manager Overrides
  • In the Language Manager: Installed Languages, click on the tab – Overrides
  • Then Click on ‘New

3.  Search for the text you want to change = Constant

Here it gets a little tricky, but if you follow you should be fine.  First you need to search for the constant or string that stores the email text.  This string or constant is called:  COM_USERS_EMAIL_REGISTERED_WITH_ACTIVATION_BODY

Joomla 2.5 Language Manager New Override - Email Registration Activation Text Searc
Joomla 2.5 Language Manager New Override - Email Registration Activation Text Searc
  • On the right side of the screen, you will see a heading “Search text you want to change”
  • In the Text box, set the following value:
    • COM_USERS_EMAIL_REGISTERED_WITH_ACTIVATION_BODY
  • Search for, set the following value:
    • Constant
  • Click on ‘Search
Joomla 2.5 - Language Manager Override - Edit User Registration Activation Email Search Results
Joomla 2.5 - Language Manager Override - Edit User Registration Activation Email Search Results

4.  Click on the Search Results

The Language Manager will return the search results below.  It will display the constant you searched for and the contents for you to preview.  You can click anywhere in the result section to edit it.

  • On the right bottom side of the screen, will see a heading that says “Search Results’
  • Click anywhere in the results panel to edit the text.

5.  Edit the Email Text

Once you found the string or constant that holds the email text, you can see and edit it on the left panel of your screen.

Joomal 2.5 - Edit User Registration Activation and Remove Password
Joomal 2.5 - Edit User Registration Activation and Remove Password
  • On the Left side of your screen, see heading that says:
    • Create a New Override
  • Put your mouse on the ‘Text‘ portion and remove any mention of password.
  • For Example, your text should now say:

Hello %s,\n\nThank you for registering at %s. Your account is created and must be activated before you can use it.\nTo activate the account click on the following link or copy-paste it in your browser:\n%s \n\nAfter activation you may login to %s using the username and password you entered at registration:\n\nUsername: %s

  •  Click on ‘Save & Close’

Now when users create a new account the activation email that is sent to them will not contain their password.  if they forget their password they can always use the ‘Forget Password’ function available.

Hope that helps you!

Thanks,

Elaine

7 thoughts on “Joomla 2.5 Tutorials – How to Remove Password from Account Activation Emails

  1. hello there!
    i didnt find any email address or contact form (o_O) so i’m posting here!

    I wanted to ask if you have tried any backup and/or update modules for Jooomla (2.5).
    Or perhaps a module that can do both. I have found some of those, and i will test them in due time.

    Just wanted to ask if you personally have used any of them. So please answer only if u do! 😛

    Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi Dimitris,
      Oh, Yeah it’s best to leave me a comment. I check this place more than I check my emails. lol. I will write up a post for you regarding the Joomla 2.5 backup extension this week or next.
      Thanks for your visit!
      elaine

      1. Haha! I know why you prefer wordpress!
        It’s so that you can say “I’m not ignoring you! Your comment is awaiting moderation!” 😛

        Hahah thanks again, I’ll be waiting! 😛

  2. Hi Elaine,

    These instructions are really easy to follow, but isn’t exactly what I’ve been looking for. This seems to be for the email sent to self-registered users. Do you know which constant to search for when looking for the text in the email sent to users who have been set up by the administrator? (I’ve disabled self-registration on my site.)

    At the moment the email looks like the below and I’d like to customise it.

    Thank you!
    Kate

    Hello ,

    You have been added as a User to Cloudaccess – Joomla! as a Service by an Administrator.

    This email contains your username and password to log in to
    Username:
    Password:

    Please do not respond to this message as it is automatically generated and is for information purposes only.

  3. In Joomla 2.5, you can find this email body inside administrator/language/en-GB/en-GB.plg_user_joomla.ini on line 11.

    For some reason, this file isn’t included in the override search described above.

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