Moving users between directories

Step 1 - Select the user(s) to move and proceed to the Change Directory action

It is possible to move or copy users from one user directory to another with User Management, by using the Change Directory - Bulk User Action.

Once you have selected the users you want to move from the Select Users screen of Bulk User Actions, you want to choose the Change Directory action from the Select Action screen.

Step 2 - Choose the target directory and mode

There are two things you need to do on the Configure Action step:

1. Choose the target directory

The target directory is the user directory in which all selected users will be transferred to. You may only choose one target directory per action.

You may not select a read only directory as a target.

User Management will do its best to identify directories which are read only or for which the required operations are forbidden and notify you.

It is however possible for a directory to be configured in such a way that you may select it as a target from the dropdown, but the action will fail, due to a permissions or connection problem. In this case the selected users will not be affected by the action. 

2. Choose the mode

You must choose from one of two modes copy or move. 

Copy will create the users in the target directory but leave the original directory unaffected.

Move will create the users in the target directory and then will delete the user's data from the original directory they were copied from.

You may not use the move mode if you selected any users who currently reside in a read-only directory.

Step 3 - Run the action

Once you've finished configuring the action, you just need to run it, please be patient if you select a large numbers of users to copy/move at once, as it may take some time to complete.

One last thing you should know. Users passwords are not transferred into the target directory! Because of how passwords are stored, User Management is unable to transfer this data. Thus, any users who get moved will need to reset their passwords through the "Forgot your password" function or manually by an administrator. 

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I see Change Directory on the list of actions on the "Select Action" screen?

The Change Directory action was introduced in version 2.1.1 of User Management. If you don't see it as an option, you probably just need to update User Management.

Can I select users from two or more different directories and try to move them somewhere else in one action?

You may select users from any number of source directories at once.

What happens if I select any users who are already in the target directory?

If any or all of the users you selected are already present in the target directory you may still perform the action. However only any selected users who are not already in the target directory will be moved/copied, the others will be unaffected.

I performed a Change Directory action on one or more users, but it didn't work - they have not appeared in the target directory?

It's possible that a permissions issue exists between Jira/Confluence and the target directory where User Management was unable to transfer the users. If this is the case than no damage should have be done to the user's data. Looking at the application logs may reveal what went wrong. Try and add the package "org.techtime" to Logging and Profiling and attempt the action again. Observe the logs to see if anything comes up.

Will users retain all of their data once they have been transferred to the new directory?

From a front-end perspective the change should be basically imperceptible after the Change Directory action. The one thing that will not transfer however is passwords. These will need to be reset after the users have moved or they won't be able to log in. Depending on the type of directories involved in the transfer it is also possible that the users' login history will not carry over either.

If I select a user which exists in two different directories already, what will happen if try to move or copy them?

When moving or copying to the another directory, only the user's data as it exists in the highest ranked directory they are present in, will be transferred.

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