You may want to print this page for ease of reference.

If you receive a “Password reset” or “Password expiry” email

If you get an email which looks something like this, but you didn’t request a new password, or you receive a similar message warning that your password is about to expire, or has actually expired…

…then do not click any links.

WordPress passwords do not expire and you should only receive such an email notifying you of a request to change your password if you have asked for it following the instructions below. If you have not asked to change your password, then someone else has! It’s also possible that someone else has created an email which looks like a “real” email but the link is malicious. This is called “phishing”. The safest thing to do — if you have not actually asked to change your password — is to ignore and delete the email.

If you have clicked a link, ask Andrew to change your website password for you. You should also check your computer/device for viruses and the like.

How to get a new password

Clicking the Lost Password link in the sidebar brings up this dialog:

Enter your username or your email address and click the blue Get New Password button. You will be sent an email, and the screen will change to a login form. Don’t fill in the form. Check your email.

At the bottom of the email is a link. Your email may look slightly different, but there will be some sort of link at the bottom:

Click the link. This will open a form where you can reset your password:

Try and make the password strong by including upper- and lower-case letters and symbols. One way of doing this is to take a phrase like “Use the Force, Luke!” and use the first letter of each word, along with any punctuation: UtF,L! (Because this phrase is suggested here, don’t use it. Pick one only you will know is yours.) You need to enter it twice to make sure you get it right. The bar will show “Mismatch” until the second one matches the first.

Click the blue Reset password button to reset the password to the one you have entered.

You’ll get confirmation:

Until you see this confirmation dialog, your password has not been changed. Click the Log in link.

You may find that your browser fills in a password for you in this dialog, but that will be your old one. Erase that and type your new password. If you are asked whether you want to remember it, you can usually say Yes if you are using your own computer. If you are using a public computer, do not allow the browser to remember the password, and do not tick the “Remember Me” checkbox.

That’s it! Click Log In and you log into the site.