Update Student & Alumni Email Addresses

Students aren't able to change their institution email address in Handshake. However, they do have the option to update their primary email address. To review the student process for this, refer to Update Your Primary Email Address in Handshake.

If a student needs their institution's email address changed, there are two ways for Career Services users to process this change:

• Via Importer
• Manually in Handshake

Update via student sync in Importer

To update a students institution email, you'll need to modify your existing student sync file. For more details on this process, including required fields, refer to Importing Student Data.

Note: If your institution has an automated sync, ensure the email address is updated in that file!

Tips on updating the email_address field:

• You cannot update a student email address to an address that's associated with another institution/.ac.uk, as those institutions would create separate accounts for these users.
• You can change these email addresses to personal accounts, such as @gmail, etc.

For more information on updating graduating students emails, refer to Importer: Updating Graduating Students to Alumni.

Manual update in Handshake

The first thing you'll need to check for is if the student is included in your student sync file. You can either review your student sync file, or you can pull up the account in Handshake to quickly review it.

To check the account in Handshake, go to the students profile and click on the Account tab. 

• If the Email address field is greyed out, this indicates the account is being synced via Importer. 

Note: if you'd like to exclude this user from future syncs, scroll down on the page and click the box to the left of Exclude from Automatic Syncs to add a check. Click the green Update User button in the lower-right corner of the page to save your changes.

• If a Change Email button is displayed to the right of the email address, then the account is excluded from the importer sync. 

1. Click the Change Email button to the right of the email address to proceed with the update. 

2. Enter the new email address in the field located under New Email, then click Submit Request.

When the request processes, a notification appears on the profile: "Please check your new email address for your email confirmation link and code." 

Emails 

When an email change is requested, there are two emails sent to the user:

1. The request confirmation email sent to the current address 

"Hello [NAME],

Your account email address has been requested to change to [NEW EMAIL]. 

If your or someone you authorised (e.g. your school) requested this, please follow the directions emailed to [NEW EMAIL]. 

If you do not recognise this request, please contact [HANDSHAKE SUPPORT LINK] immediately." 

2. The instructions to complete the change to the new address 

"Hello [NAME],

Your email address has been updated by your school. Please confirm the change to access your account. 

Old Email: [CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS]

New Email: [EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE UPDATED TO] 

Email Verification Code: [CODE TO INTIATE EMAIL CHANGE]

[CHANGE EMAIL BUTTON]." 

Once the user clicks the Change Email button, they'll be directed to fill in the following fields to complete the request: 

• • • Email Verification Code
    • Password/Confirm Password