Change a user’s Registration Name

1. One project administrator will perform the conversion. It is best if this administrator does not need to change his or her own name. If the only project administrator needs to change their name, they could add a Paratext supporter as an administrator of the project, have them do the conversion and then remove them after the conversion.
   Except for the one administrator who will do the conversion, each team member on your project should:
   • Do a final Send/Receive
   • To avoid confusion, they may wish to delete the project from their Paratext now. This is done in [Top] > Delete Project (or Project > Delete Project in Paratext 8).
   • If they need to change their name, they should go to https://registry.paratext.org/users/me and click the “Change” link next to their Registration Name. Follow the instructions in the dialog to receive new registration information, then paste that information into Paratext, under Tools > Registration Information. Inform the project administrator of the exact spelling of the new names.
2. The project administrator doing the conversion should:
   • use [Tab] Advanced > Convert Project  (or Tools > Advanced > Convert Project in Paratext 8) to replace all occurrences of each old name with its new name. This will create a new project (with a new Short Name) which includes all the same data as the old project, but with an updated project history. In the convert project dialog, you can select an old name to change from the drop down box. Type in the new name to change that name too, then click “Add”. This allows you to specify another pair of names.
3. The administrator should verify that all the desired name changes have happened throughout the project user list, the  project history, and in the project notes. If some names did not change, the administrator can try the convert project tool again to change the remaining instances of old names.
4. Once the conversion has finished and the new project is verified as successfully converted, the administrator uses Project > Delete Project and chooses the action Keep only my copy; Delete for others; Delete registration to delete the old project for everyone else.
   • WARNING: If any significant information has been entered into the Registry for this project, manually back up that information (by copy/pasting it into a document) before deleting the project.
5. If desired, the administrator can now run the Convert Project tool again to change the short name of the converted project to the original short name.
6. Finally, the administrator registers the new project via Project > Project Properties and Settings and does a send/receive of the project.
7. Everyone on the team uses Send/Receive to get the new project. If the converted project does have the same short name as the original project, they should delete the original project from their Paratext before doing a Send/Receive to receive the converted project.

If the project administrator doing the conversion needs to change their own name, the way to proceed is like this:

• • Before changing their name, convert the project (step 2 above). The convert project tool will accept changing the old name to the new name, after warning that the new name does not yet exist. Continue past this warning. (If they change their name first, the Convert Project tool will refuse to run since the new name is not an administrator of the project yet. If they attempt to add the new name as an administrator before changing their name, Paratext refuses to add the new name since it doesn’t exist in the registry yet).
  • When the conversion finishes, Paratext will warn that as an observer of the project, the user has no right to make changes so all changes to the text have been discarded. (This is because the old name is no longer an administrator of the new project).  But hopefully the changes in project history and in user permissions have been made (but the old name may likely persist in the project notes). If their new name is in User Permissions as administrator, they can now go through the process of changing their name in the registry (go to https://registry.paratext.org/users/me and click the “Change” link next to their Registration Name. Follow the instructions in the dialog to receive new registration information, then paste that information into Paratext).
  • Now in Paratext under their new name, they should verify that all the needed changes have been made in user permissions, project history and  project notes. If some were not made, they can run the Convert Project  tool again. If this converted project has all the needed changes, the administrator can now proceed to delete the old project, register and share the converted project and have the team receive it (steps 4-7 above).

1. Before you change your Registration Name: do an Internet Send/Receive with each of your projects.
2. Go to https://registry.paratext.org/users/me and click the “Change” link next to your Registration Name.
   1. Follow the instructions in the dialog to receive your new registration information (via email).
3. Paste your new registration name and code into Paratext
   1. Paratext 9: Paratext menu > Help > Registration Information.
   2. Paratext 8: Tools menu > Registration Information.
4. Restart Paratext.
5. Do an Internet Send/Receive with each of your projects.

1. Except for the one administrator who will do the conversion, each team member on your project should:
   • Do a final Send/Receive and either use Project > Delete Project to delete the project from their own computer(s) or use Project > Project Properties and Settings > Advanced to disable editing in it.
   • Ensure that, if they need a pseudonym, they either have one already in the PT7 project, or have registered for PT8 using a pseudonym.
   • Make sure any old names have been removed from Project > Users, Roles and Permissions, and existing unresolved notes have been reassigned.
2. The project administrator doing the conversion should:
   • Optionally, go offline first (recommended). For example, use Tools > Options to disable Internet use.
   • Use File > Open to migrate the project to Paratext 8, then delete (or disable editing in) their copy of the PT7 project. (Note: If online, Paratext 8 will require any shared project to be registered at this point. Just enter the minimum information required, since you will delete the registration soon.)
   • Use Tools > Advanced > Convert Project to replace all occurrences of each old name with its new name. (Carefully enter each name, verbatim!) This will create a new project (with a new Short Name) which includes all the same data as the old project, but with an updated project history.
   • If the administrator needs to change their own name, they can verify availability of the desired new name (go to https://registry.paratext.org/users/me and click Change) and replace their existing name with that new name during the conversion.
3. Once the conversion has finished creating the new copy of the project, the administrator uses Project > Delete Project to delete the first Paratext project which was created by the migration to Paratext 8. (If they were online during the migration, they should delete it “for everyone”.)
4. If the administrator needs to change their own name in the Registry, they can now go ahead and do so, and paste their new information into Paratext under Tools > Registration Information.
5. Finally, the administrator makes sure Internet use is enabled and registers the new project via Project > Project Properties and Settings.
6. Everyone on the team uses Send/Receive to get the new project.

Warning: Paratext 7 projects are on a separate Send/Receive server and will not be updated by changes in user names in the Paratext registry. If the user being renamed is the main administrator of a Paratext 7 project (i.e. is the person most likely to migrate the project to Paratext 8), they should do one of the following:

• Use Paratext 7 to add their new name to the project, prior to migrating it (recommended). Be sure to get the spelling exactly correct. (PT7 will warn you that it was unable to verify the name with the S/R server.)
• Avoid being renamed until they have migrated their PT7 projects.
• Temporarily rename themselves back to the old name any time they wish to migrate a project. (Not recommended, as each rename will require entering a new registration code into Paratext.)