Sign in with an emailed link or code

How to sign in with a message sent to your email address, using either its link or its eight digit code.

On this page

Instead of a password, a message can carry the sign-in. The message holds a link and a code, and either one finishes the sign-in. Use whichever suits you, but use it in the same browser you started in. The sign-in is tied to that browser, so a link opened somewhere else may not finish it.

Ask for the message#

On the sign-in page, enter your email address and select Email me a sign-in link. The same button is on the password screen, with the same label.
The page changes to Check your email. It says If this address can sign in, a message is on its way. Open the link in it, or enter the code from it below.
Open the message, Your TDACorp Identity sign-in link. It says to open the link in the same browser you started from. The button in it reads Continue signing in. The message states when it expires, and it works once. This email is written in the language saved on your profile, otherwise in the language the application you were signing in to asked for, otherwise English. The English wording is quoted here; see Languages.

A link or code is a way to sign in to an account that has no passkey. For an account that has a passkey and no authenticator app, the link or code is refused; see the table below.

The page never says whether the address has an account. It answers the same way for every address, and the message is sent only if the address can sign in.

Finish with the link#

Opening the link takes you to a page titled Sign in with a link. It says Continue to finish signing in on this browser. and Opening this page does not sign you in. Only the button below does. Select Continue. Only that button finishes the sign-in; a mail scanner or a link preview that merely opens the page changes nothing. After you select Continue, the sign-in carries on in this browser and you see the next step.

The Check your email screen after asking for a sign-in link: a field for the code from the email, a Verify button, and a Send again control that counts down. — Check your email: open the link in the message, or type the code from it here. Sample data./sign-in

Finish with the code#

If you would rather not use the link, stay on Check your email.

Type the eight digit code from the message in Code from the email. The hint says Eight digits.
Select Verify.

If nothing arrives#

Look in your junk folder first. The row under the form reads Nothing arrived?, and its button counts down as Send again in a clock before it becomes Send again. When you send it again, the page says If this address can sign in, another message is on its way. If you typed the wrong address, select Use a different email.

Why a message may never be sent#

Two limits can stop a message, and the page now says so instead of waiting silently.

A limit on messages to one address. TDACorp sends only a limited number of sign-in, recovery and registration messages to one email address, whoever asked for them: a short burst, then one more every few minutes (the operator sets the numbers). This protects the mailbox from being flooded. Every request for a message to that address counts, whether or not an account exists, so asking again and again uses the allowance up. A request that is itself turned away, for example because you asked too many times in a short while, does not use any of it. The page then says We have already sent the most emails allowed to this address for now. Use your password or a passkey instead, or try again later. and how long to wait, for example Try again in 6 minutes. Sign in another way meanwhile. Security notices about your account do not count towards the limit.
A daily limit for the whole service. TDACorp can only send a set number of messages a day. When that is spent, the page says We have reached the limit for sending email today, so no message can be sent right now. Use your password or a passkey instead, or try again tomorrow. The day starts at midnight UTC. Creating an account may use only a part of that allowance, so the message can appear for sign-up while sign-in links and recovery messages are still sent.

Under either message there is a link, Why does this happen?, to this section, and a line Reference: followed by a short code. Quote the code if you ask for help; it names exactly this request.

What can go wrong#

What you see	What it means
This link is incomplete. Ask for a new one from the sign-in page.	The link was cut off, for example by a mail app. Request a new message.
This link did not work. It may have expired or been used. Ask for a new one.	The link is out of date or was already used. Request a new message.
That code is not right or has expired.	Check the digits, or request a new message.
We could not send email right now. Try again in a few minutes.	The message could not be sent. Try again later.
We have already sent the most emails allowed to this address for now.	The limit for one address was reached; see Why a message may never be sent. Use your password or a passkey, or wait.
We have reached the limit for sending email today, so no message can be sent right now.	The service-wide daily limit was reached. Use your password or a passkey, or try again tomorrow.
Sign-in was refused, with We have already sent the most emails allowed to this address for now, so we cannot send the confirmation message. or We have reached the limit for sending email today, so we cannot send the confirmation message.	A confirmation message that a risky sign-in needed could not be sent for one of the two reasons above. Sign in with your password or a passkey, try again later, or recover your account.
Sign-in was refused, with This account signs in with a passkey. Start a new sign-in and use your passkey. If you lost it, recover your account.	The account has a passkey and no authenticator app, so a link or code alone is not accepted, and the lost-passkey password step below is not available to it. Start a new sign-in begins again so you can use the passkey; Recover your account starts recovery. See Sign in with a passkey.

After the link or code#

The same screens can follow as after a password: the second step, an organization choice and Allow access. Where your organization has turned it on for your account, the second step may ask for your password. See Optional extra steps. If the account has no password yet, Choose a password comes next, after any second step; a link or code alone never sets the first password on an account that has a passkey or an authenticator app.

On an account whose only second step is a passkey, a link or code does not finish the sign-in. Where the platform has the lost-passkey option turned on (the login_email_fallback flag) and nothing asks for more, the next screen starts with Use a passkey and lists Use my password instead under Other ways to confirm. Choosing it says Lost your passkey? Type your password to finish signing in. and notes This sign-in is one level lower than a passkey, and some apps will still ask for your passkey. A link, I lost my passkey, opens account recovery. Otherwise the sign-in is refused as in the table above. See If you lost your passkey.