# User account

When signed into their GitLab account, users can customize their
experience according to the best approach to their cases.

## Signing in

There are several ways to sign into your GitLab account.
See the [authentication topic](../../topics/authentication/index.md) for more details.

## User profile

Your profile is available from the up-right corner menu bar (user's avatar) > **Profile**,
or from `https://example.gitlab.com/username`.

On your profile page, you will see the following information:

- Personal information
- Activity stream: see your activity streamline and the history of your contributions
- Groups: [groups](../group/index.md) you're a member of
- Contributed projects: [projects](../project/index.md) you contributed to
- Personal projects: your personal projects (respecting the project's visibility level)
- Snippets: your personal code [snippets](../snippets.md#personal-snippets)

## Profile settings

You can edit your account settings by navigating from the up-right corner menu bar
(user's avatar) > **Settings**, or visiting `https://example.gitlab.com/profile`.

From there, you can:

- Update your personal information
- Set a [custom status](#current-status) for your profile
- Manage [2FA](account/two_factor_authentication.md)
- Change your username and [delete your account](account/delete_account.md)
- Manage applications that can
[use GitLab as an OAuth provider](../../integration/oauth_provider.md#introduction-to-oauth)
- Manage [personal access tokens](personal_access_tokens.md) to access your account via API and authorized applications
- Add and delete emails linked to your account
- Choose which email to use for notifications, web-based commits, and display on your public profile
- Manage [SSH keys](../../ssh/README.md#ssh) to access your account via SSH
- Manage your [preferences](preferences.md#syntax-highlighting-theme)
to customize your own GitLab experience
- [View your active sessions](active_sessions.md) and revoke any of them if necessary
- Access your audit log, a security log of important events involving your account

## Changing your username

Your `username` is a unique [`namespace`](../group/index.md#namespaces)
related to your user ID. Changing it can have unintended side effects, read
[how redirects will behave](../project/index.md#redirects-when-changing-repository-paths)
before proceeding.

To change your `username`:

1. Navigate to your [profile's](#profile-settings) **Settings > Account**.
1. Enter a new username under "Change username".
1. Hit **Update username**.

CAUTION: **Caution:**
It is currently not possible to change your username if it contains a
project with [Container Registry](../project/container_registry.md) tags,
because the project cannot be moved.

TIP: **Tip:**
If you want to retain ownership over the original namespace and
protect the URL redirects, then instead of changing a group's path or renaming a
username, you can create a new group and transfer projects to it.
Alternatively, you can follow [this detailed procedure from the GitLab Team Handbook](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/tools-and-tips/#how-to-change-your-username-at-gitlabcom)
which also covers the case where you have projects hosted with
[GitLab Pages](../project/pages/index.md).

## Private profile

The following information will be hidden from the user profile page (https://gitlab.example.com/username) if this feature is enabled:

- Atom feed
- Date when account is created
- Activity tab
- Groups tab
- Contributed projects tab
- Personal projects tab
- Snippets tab

To enable private profile:

1. Navigate to your personal [profile settings](#profile-settings).
1. Check the "Private profile" option.
1. Hit **Update profile settings**.


NOTE: **Note:**
You and GitLab admins can see your the abovementioned information on your profile even if it is private.

## Private contributions

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/14078) in GitLab 11.3.

Enabling private contributions will include contributions to private projects, in the user contribution calendar graph and user recent activity. 

To enable private contributions:

1. Navigate to your personal [profile settings](#profile-settings).
2. Check the "Private contributions" option.
3. Hit **Update profile settings**.

## Current status

> Introduced in GitLab 11.2.

You can provide a custom status message for your user profile along with an emoji that describes it.
This may be helpful when you are out of office or otherwise not available.
Other users can then take your status into consideration when responding to your issues or assigning work to you.
Please be aware that your status is publicly visible even if your [profile is private](#private-profile).

To set your current status:

1. Open the user menu in the top-right corner of the navigation bar.
1. Hit **Set status**, or **Edit status** if you have already set a status.
1. Set the emoji and/or status message to your liking.
1. Hit **Set status**. Alternatively, you can also hit **Remove status** to remove your user status entirely.

or

1. Navigate to your personal [profile settings](#profile-settings).
1. In the text field below `Your status`, enter your status message.
1. Select an emoji from the dropdown if you like.
1. Hit **Update profile settings**.

Status messages are restricted to 100 characters of plain text.
They may however contain emoji codes such as `I'm on vacation :palm_tree:`.

You can also set your current status [using the API](../../api/users.md#user-status).

## Troubleshooting

### Why do I keep getting signed out?

When signing in to the main GitLab application, a `_gitlab_session` cookie is
set. `_gitlab_session` is cleared client-side when you close your browser
and expires after "Application settings -> Session duration (minutes)"/`session_expire_delay`
(defaults to `10080` minutes = 7 days).

When signing in to the main GitLab application, you can also check the
"Remember me" option which sets the `remember_user_token`
cookie (via [`devise`](https://github.com/plataformatec/devise)).
`remember_user_token` expires after
`config/initializers/devise.rb` -> `config.remember_for` (defaults to 2 weeks).

When the `_gitlab_session` expires or isn't available, GitLab uses the `remember_user_token`
to get you a new `_gitlab_session` and keep you signed in through browser restarts.

After your `remember_user_token` expires and your `_gitlab_session` is cleared/expired,
you will be asked to sign in again to verify your identity (which is for security reasons).
