Sign in, reset a password and get back in

Everyone on your team signs in at your Crewtavo’s web address with their email. This page covers the ways to sign in, what to do when you forget your password, and how the owner gets back in when email isn’t set up yet.

On Sign in, enter your Email and Password and choose Sign in. Below the form there are other ways in:

Email me a sign-in link: type your email and choose Email me a link. Crewtavo emails you a link that signs you in, with no password. If nothing comes, wait a minute and choose Send again.
Continue with Google: there only if Google sign-in is turned on for your Crewtavo server. Use the Google account with the same email address your invite went to.
Subcontractor? Get a sign-in code by text (or by email): for the businesses you hire, not your team. See signing in as a subcontractor.

You can’t make an account on your own: people join from the invite an owner or admin sends from Settings → People. See Invite your team and set roles.

If it says “That email and password don’t match. Check them, or reset your password.”, check for a typo in your email first, then reset your password. After several tries in a row it says “Too many attempts. Wait a minute and try again.”

Join from an invite

The link in your invite opens Set your password. Type a New password of at least 8 characters, type it again under Confirm password, and choose Save password. You’re signed in.

If you choose Skip for now, you’re signed in without a password. Set one later under Settings → Profile, within 10 minutes of signing in with Google, an emailed link or a code (see Change your password), or use Email me a sign-in link to get back in.

An invite link works once and runs out after a day. If yours has, ask whoever invited you to choose Resend invite.

Forgot your password?

On the sign-in page, choose Forgot password? above the password box.
Type your email and choose Send reset link.
Open the email, then the link in it. On Choose a new password, type a New password and Confirm password, then choose Save password.

Choosing a new password signs you out on every other phone and computer, in case someone else had your old one.

Nothing in your inbox? Check your spam folder, then choose Send again. See Emails aren’t arriving.

If it says “We can’t email you a link”

This shows when your Crewtavo isn’t set up to send email yet, so it can’t send a reset link or a sign-in link to anyone. There are two ways back in:

On the team: ask the owner or an admin for a reset link. They make one under Settings → People, next to your name. See below.
The owner: choose I’m the owner: use my key file. See Get back in with your key file.

Once the owner connects email, Forgot password? emails a link to everyone.

Make a reset link for someone on your team

When someone on your team is locked out, an owner or admin can make them a one-time link to choose a new password.

Open Settings → People and choose Reset password under their name.
Choose Make reset link. Their current password keeps working until they choose a new one.
If your email is connected, Crewtavo emails it to them and says “Reset link sent”. If not, it says “Reset link ready”: choose Copy reset link and give it to them yourself, in person or by text.
Choose Done.

The link works once and stops working within a day. Whoever opens it can choose a new password for that account, so don’t share it anywhere else. The person sees a note about it when they’re back in, and it goes in your activity log.

Who you can make one for:

The owner can make one for anyone but another owner.
An admin, whose role has Manage people and roles, can make one for anyone below admin: office staff, estimators, crew leads and field crew. Only the owner can make one for an admin.
Not for yourself. Change your own password under Settings → Profile.
Not for someone who hasn’t joined yet. They show Invite pending: choose Resend invite instead.
Not for a subcontractor. A sub signs in with a link from their page under Subcontractors.
Not for someone who also uses Crewtavo with another business. “This person also uses Crewtavo with another business, so they need to reset their password themselves.”

Restore someone’s access

When you choose Remove next to someone in Settings → People, then Remove access, they’re signed out of your business right away. They stay in the list, greyed out, with their visits, time and notes kept.

To let them back in, choose Restore on their row. Crewtavo says “Access restored”, and they sign in with the same email and password as before. If they’ve forgotten the password, make them a reset link once they’re restored.

The owner’s key file

Until your Crewtavo can send email, nobody can email the owner a reset link. The key file is the owner’s way back in instead: a small text file called crewtavo-key-file.txt with 8 spare keys in it, like the backup codes some websites give you.

You save it when you create the owner account, on Save your key file:

Choose Download key file and keep it somewhere you won’t lose it, like your phone’s Files app, Google Drive or your password manager. To keep paper instead, open Rather keep it on paper? See the keys and choose Print the keys.
Tick I saved my key file somewhere safe, then choose Continue.

You won’t see the keys again. Anyone who has the file can get into your account, so don’t share it.

Get back in with your key file

On the sign-in page, choose Forgot password?, type your email and choose Send reset link.
On “We can’t email you a link”, choose I’m the owner: use my key file.
Choose Upload key file and pick crewtavo-key-file.txt.
On Choose a new password, type your new password twice and choose Save password.

Each upload uses up one key, so the file works 8 times. No file, but you printed the keys? Choose No file? Type a key from your printout, enter your Email and one Spare key (like 7K4M-PQ2X-9DRF; dashes and capitals don’t matter), then choose Continue.

If it says “That didn’t work.”, check the email and the key: each key works once, and only while email isn’t set up. After several wrong tries it asks you to wait an hour.

See how many uses are left, or get a new file

The owner’s Settings → Profile has a Key file card. It says how many uses the file has left (for example “Good for 7 more uses (of 8)”), or “Your key file is used up. Get a new one and save it.”

To replace it, choose Get a new key file, enter Your password and choose Get new key file. Save the new one the same way, then choose Done. Your old file, and any keys you printed, stop working straight away.

If you lost the key file too

Whoever runs your Crewtavo server can let you in by proving they control it:

In Railway, open your project, then the crewtavo service, then Variables. (With Docker, use the .env.instance file.)
Add CREWTAVO_RECOVERY_EMAIL with the owner’s email, and CREWTAVO_RECOVERY_CODE with a phrase you make up, at least 12 characters long. Deploy the change when Railway asks (with Docker, run npm run instance again).
Within the next hour, on the sign-in page, go to I’m the owner: use my key file, then No file? Type a key from your printout. Type the owner’s email and that phrase as the Spare key, choose Continue, then choose a new password.
Delete both variables.

The phrase works once, and only in the hour after the server starts with it. See Optional settings for more on server variables.

Change your password

Open Settings → Profile.
In Change password, type your Current password, then your New password (at least 8 characters), and type it again under Confirm new password.
Choose Change password. The button shows “Password changed”, and you’re signed out everywhere else.

No password yet, because you sign in with Google or chose Skip for now? Leave Current password empty. That only works within 10 minutes of signing in with Google, an emailed link or a code. Otherwise Crewtavo says “Enter your current password. If you don’t have one yet, sign out and in again, then set it within 10 minutes.”

On an iPhone, Crewtavo added to the Home Screen keeps its own sign-in, separate from Safari. So after you add it, open it from the Home Screen and sign in there too, with your email and password.

Links from your email, like a sign-in link or a reset link, open in Safari, not in the Home Screen app. If you reset your password that way, go back to the Home Screen app afterwards and sign in with the new password. To add Crewtavo to your phone and turn on notifications, see Your profile, notifications and Crewtavo on your phone.

Subs don’t have a password. The office sends them a sign-in link, and on a new phone they get a 6-digit code instead:

On the sign-in page, choose Subcontractor? Get a sign-in code by text.
Type your Mobile phone and choose Text me a code.
Type the code under Enter your code. It runs out in 10 minutes.

No phone on file? Get a code by email instead sends the code by email. If your Crewtavo can’t send texts, the link reads Subcontractor? Get a sign-in code by email. If nothing comes, ask the office for a new sign-in link. See Your jobs and paperwork as a subcontractor, and for the office, Work with subcontractors.

Sign out

Choose your photo or initials at the top right, then Sign out. Signing out clears your Crewtavo from that phone or computer.

If you’ve made changes with no signal that haven’t gone out yet, Crewtavo asks first, for example “2 updates haven’t sent yet”. Signing out then deletes them, so choose Sign out anyway only if you don’t need them. Otherwise wait until you have signal.

Switch between businesses

If your account belongs to more than one business, your business’s name at the top left is a list. Pick the other business to switch. Your role can be different in each one, and Crewtavo remembers your choice on that device.