How to use Active User

Active User is very simple to use. Once installed, it begins to record the login times of your users.

In your settings, the first thing to do is set an inactive period. Choose between days, month or years. This is the simplest configuration. Active User will periodically* check that each of your users have logged in within the activity period. If not, they will be considered ‘inactive’. You will see them in the deletion queue and if you desire, can remove them from the site.

*Active User checks for inactive users once a day, so as not to put too much pressure on your server.

The Grace Period

To give your users a bit of leeway, you can activate the grace period function. In the settings, click ‘Enable grace period’ and assign it a length of time, as you did for the inactivity period above.

When you enable the grace period, the following happens. Your user who hasn’t visited within the inactive period is still inactive. However, rather than being placed in the deletion queue, he enters a second period of time. This means you can make contact with the user and entice them back. If they still don’t log in within this extended period of time, they then get moved to the deletion queue.

If you have the grace period enabled, you can select ‘Send email’ in the settings, to have Active User automatically explain that they now need to login otherwise they may be removed from the site.

Can I edit the content of the email sent at the start of the grace period?

This will be in the next version of the plugin. However, if you are comfortable editing files, you can do so using FTP access and a text editor.

How long should the periods be?

Amongst our users, the average length of time is around 6 months until a user should be inactive. Most go on to enable a grace period of around an extra month. You should set the periods based on your use-case and particular requirements.

How can I test Active User?

There are two methods. If you have access to your database, for example, through a tool such as phpMyAdmin, you can manually set a test user’s last login time, at which point you should have no problem testing any of the functions. If you cannot access the database, you will need to set the minimum inactive period of 1 day and wait. You can set the grace period to 1 day as well, meaning that 48 hours later you should start to see the effects of inactivity.

What is the Active User Table?

This is a simple table displaying your users and their last login/activity times. If the user is in red, he is inactive. If he is yellow, he is inactive, but in the grace period. For your convenience, the user email is also shown, so you can make contact with that user.