Each account in EasyChair has at least one associated email address but may have more than one. There is always an address called the main email address and zero or more alternative email addresses.

Main address

In some cases, when EasyChair sends you an email, it is sent to your main address. Otherwise, there is no difference between the main address and alternative addresses.

Alternative addresses

EasyChair has a feature that makes management of email addresses far more complex than in most Web-based systems. An information relevant to a user A may be entered by another user B, who does not necessarily know the main email address of A and may enter a different email address still belonging to A. This happens, for example, when a programme chair adds a new reviewer, or when an author makes a new submission and enters her or his coauthor information.

Identifying a user by his email address

In general, when a user A enters a person B with an email address e in the system, EasyChair first searches for a user having e as the main or an alternative address. If none is found, EasyChair creates a user having e as the main email address but no account.

Email-based authentication

To create an EasyChair account, one should specify a valid email address. A message will then be sent to this address. Without receiving this message, one cannot create an account.

Changing the main address

To make an alternative address the main address use Other->My Account. One cannot change the main address to a completely new address immediately since the new address must past authentication. If you need to change your main email address to a new one, you should first enter the new address as an alternative email address, and then make it the main one.

Deleting an alternative address

To delete an alternative address use menu tabs Other -> My Account. However, we do not recommend to delete an alternative email address if it is your address and others are using it. Indeed, if you delete an address and somebody enters you in the system using this address (e.g., as a as a reviewer), EasyChair will create a new user associated with this address. As a result, you will have to add this address as an alternative one again.

Otherwise, if an email address does not belong to you anymore or if there is a chance that it will not belong to you soon, you should delete it as soon as possible. There is always a chance this address will be assigned to someone else who will then be able to have access to your account.

Adding a new address

If you would like to add a new alternative address, use Other -> My Account. The new address will have to pass authentication similar to when you create an account. If you have accounts for both email addresses, you cannot simply add the new address but should merge the two accounts instead, see again Other -> My Account.

Rules of working with email addresses

Since email addresses are central to user authentication and actually used to send emails, their misuse can create serious problems for users and for EasyChair. There are two rules of working with email addresses in EasyChair each users should follow:

Do not enter invalid email addresses.
Do not create an account for somebody else using one of your email addresses.