Admin user login help

Misty Flowers

August 10, 2026 22:34

Admin users will learn how to log in as an Admin User, Finalsite's term for a website or CMS editor, including where to find the admin login page and how to resolve a missing verification or password reset email.

General website visitors without a school-issued account should see Public user login help instead.
Students, parents, and staff members with a school-issued account should see Portal user login help instead.
Ask AI users should see Access and log into your Ask AI platform instead. Ask AI has its own URL and is not reached through the admin login page below.

💡Quick answers

Where do admins log in? Add /admin to the end of the school's website address, for example www.yoursite.com/admin.
Can a new admin create an account independently? Usually not. Another admin creates the account first. Exception: on the Connected SSO experience, new admins may be able to start account setup directly from the login screen, though an existing admin still needs to assign the correct admin group.
Verification or reset email not arriving? This is a known, common issue right now, almost always caused by the district's mail server blocking the message. See Resolve a missing reset or verification email below.
Need to create, delete, unlock, or move an admin account? See the full task list in Manage admin users.
Do Ask AI users need an Admin user account? Not necessarily. Many Ask AI users are also admin users, but the two are managed separately and Ask AI is not reached through the admin login page. For a standalone Ask AI platform without the CMS, the only permissions are those in the Ask AI User Management tab. See Access and log into your Ask AI platform.

Find the admin login page

Admins log in at a different address than students, parents, and staff:

www.yoursite.com/admin

Check other locations for the admin login page

Invitation email. An email from another admin, sent when the account was first created, may include a direct login link along with a username and temporary password.
An existing admin on the team. Can confirm the exact URL if /admin doesn't work for a given site.

If it's unclear whether an admin account already exists, checking with whoever manages the site's admin users is worthwhile before assuming a new account is needed.

Log in, or set up an account for the first time

Not certain which login experience the school uses? Compare screens on the Connected SSO and Legacy login: Which experience does my site use? page.

Admin accounts in the Legacy login experience

Admin accounts in the Legacy experience are created by another admin in Constituent Manager; they aren't self-service. If the account already exists:

Click Forgot username or password on the /admin login page.
Enter the email address on file for the admin account.
Check that inbox for a reset email, valid for one hour, then set a password.

Locked out? Legacy admin accounts lock after 8 incorrect password attempts, or 3 failed CAPTCHA attempts. Another admin can unlock the account; see Manage admin users.

Full details: see Log in to Finalsite: The legacy login experience.

Admin accounts in the Connected SSO experience

Returning admins: log in with email and password, or an identity provider.
New admins: a Create account option may appear directly on the /admin login screen, with email verification required. An existing admin still needs to assign the account to the correct admin group before permissions take effect.
Forgot password: after 3 failed login attempts, redirect to a password reset by email occurs automatically.
Multi-factor authentication: required on first login. The account locks the same way as the Legacy experience: after 3 incorrect password attempts, for 10 minutes. Entering an incorrect verification code does not lock the account, however many times it happens. A second lockout in a row requires contacting Finalsite Support directly.
- If a code from the authenticator app is not accepted, check that the device's date and time are set to update automatically. A code can look correct and still fail if the device's clock has drifted.
- If the QR code is missing or won't scan, or the authenticator app was reinstalled or moved to a new device, return to the account's multi-factor authentication setup screen to enroll again rather than reusing the old entry.

Full details: see Log in to Finalsite: The connected SSO experience.

⚠️ Troubleshoot: Resolve a missing reset or verification email

This is a known, widespread issue right now, and in almost every case it's caused by a school or district mail server blocking or filtering the message, not a problem with the account.

Before contacting Support:

Confirm the URL. The official yoursite.com/admin address should be used, not a parent portal link or an old test or implementation link.
Check spam and junk folders.
Loop in the IT department. This is the most common fix. If even one admin isn't receiving these emails, the school's mail server is likely blocking them at the network level.
Ask IT to whitelist Finalsite's sending addresses. This step resolves it for most schools. See Whitelist Messages server IP addresses for the specific IP ranges to add.

Full details: see Log in to Finalsite: Admin requirement update.

Finalsite Support can verify identity and assist directly, but resolving the delivery issue with the IT department is the fastest way for every admin at a school to log in successfully, not just one at a time.

Manage admin accounts

Creating a new admin account, deleting one, moving a user to a different admin group, unlocking a locked account, or impersonating another admin to check permissions are all covered in Manage admin users.