# Joining an installation

This page is for a person who joins a tidy notebook installation, with an invitation
or with a sign-up.

## Accept the invitation

An administrator of the installation sends you a link, by mail or in a message.

1. Open the link. The page shows the email address of your new account. You
   cannot change it.
2. Enter your name if you want to. An administrator sees it. You can leave it
   empty.
3. Enter a password of at least 15 characters, and type it again. A password
   that a list of leaked passwords holds is refused.
4. When the installation names its terms and its privacy notice, the page asks
   you to accept them. The words **terms** and **privacy notice** in that line
   are links. Read them, and select **I accept the terms and the privacy
   notice**.
5. Select **Make account**.

Your account opens at once, with its own workspace and one note, **Welcome to
tidy notebook**. Every later visit shows **Sign in**. Use the same address and
password. See [Getting started](https://docs.tidynotebook.com/getting-started.md) for the first steps.

If the page says that the invitation is not valid, the link expired, somebody
used it, or an administrator revoked it. Ask the administrator for a new one.

## Sign up without an invitation

Some installations let anybody make an account. The sign-in screen then shows
**Create an account**.

1. Select **Create an account**.
2. Enter your email address and a password of at least 15 characters.
3. Open the **terms** and the **privacy notice** links in the line of the
   check box, and read them. Then select **I accept the terms and the privacy
   notice**.
4. Select **Create account**. The browser does a short check, and a message
   goes to your address.
5. Open the link in the message within the time that it states. The page says
   **Your account is ready**.
6. Sign in with your address and your password.

Until you open the link, a sign-in says that the address is not proved yet. If
the message does not come, look in your spam folder, or sign up again to get a
new link.

## Forgot your password

1. Select **Forgot password** on the sign-in screen.
2. Enter the address of your account, and select **Send link**.
3. Open the link in the message within 1 hour. It works once.
4. Enter a new password twice, and select **Save password**.

Every device that was signed in to your account signs out, and a message tells
you that the password changed. Sign in again with the new password. If you get
that message and you did not change the password, reset it at once and tell an
administrator.

An installation that sends no mail shows no **Forgot password**. Ask the person
who runs the server to recover your account.

## Your notes are your own

Your account owns every note in your workspaces. No other account can read
them, and that includes an administrator. The person who runs the server can
read every note, as [Security model](https://docs.tidynotebook.com/security-model.md) states.

**Settings** shows how much space your notes use and how much you have. It also
links the terms and the privacy notice of the installation.

## Leave the installation

To delete your account, open **Settings** and select **Delete my account**.
Enter your password to confirm. Your account and every note in your workspaces
go for good. Export your notes first if you want to keep them. See
[Export](https://docs.tidynotebook.com/export.md).