How do I import customers without a password?

When importing customers you can create their user accounts without a password straight away. Those customers then log in with a one-time code sent to their e-mail address. That saves you inventing, sending and resetting passwords.

Setting it up in the import definition

1. Go to Configuration > System > Import and open the customer import definition with Edit this definition.
2. Set Create username and password? to anything other than Create no user. With that last option no user is created at all, so there is nothing to create without a password either.
3. Set Create without password (login via e-mail)? to Yes.
4. Continue the import as usual: map the columns, check them and import.

What happens

New users are created without a password. The automatically generated password the import would otherwise assign is dropped. The e-mail with user details is not sent, not even when Receive userdata via e-mail? is set to Yes: there is no password to send.

Points to watch

• The option applies to new users only. If an imported customer already has a user account, its existing password stays in place. Convert those customers one by one from the customer record.
• No e-mail whatsoever is sent to the customer during the import. They only notice when they try to log in and request a code. If you want customers to know they have an account, send them a message yourself.
• A valid e-mail address is required. The import uses the user e-mail address and falls back to the customer one. If both are missing, no code can be sent and the customer cannot log in.
• If the security setting Allow login via e-mail code (front pages) is off, these customers can log in with a code but can never set a password themselves.

See also: How do I let customers log in with an e-mail code? and How do I use import to assign usernames and passwords to customers?.