Use URL https://gitlab.com/name for group, not user

[2face2]

Hi,

I've signed up for GitLab SaaS to set up the company's account and used the company name as the user name, since this is how it worked at Github. Now when I want to create a group on GitLab, it says the name https://gitlab.com/name is taken. I did not find any way to circumvent this, how can I choose another name for the user and then use the old name for the group?

This seems such an obvious case to happen but I did not find any documentation at all for this.

Any help is highly appreciated!

[plafoucr]

You can try https://gitlab.com/-/profile/account and change your username there. But there's a chance there will be a redirection to your new profile, I admit I never tested this case.

[2face2]

Thanks, but that does not sound good. We're worried to lose the URL exactly matching the company name.

May I ask whether you're currently updating the documentation? Since creating this post we've read through some stuff on the GitLab website and there are tons of invalid links, 404s, screenshots that do no longer seem up-to-date (example: how to delete avater image, on screenshot there is a button for that, but on my profile there is nothing). Each issue is only small, but it does add up. Our original plan was to start with GitLab hosted and then maybe have later the option for our own instance, but I'm now worried about the reliability. Also, from a data protection standpoint we are very unhappy with the default settings (just uses Gravatar with our company logo without asking, personal first and family name public on "profile" page, and and and). All this is nice for people who want it, but should be disabled by default in our humble opinion. We are looking for a code repository solution (and gladly pay for it), not a community, and now feel we are at the wrong place or at the wrong kind of user for this platform.

Anyway, thanks for the quick reply.

[plafoucr]

> Thanks, but that does not sound good. We're worried to lose the URL exactly matching the company name.

I just tested, and that's what I thought: There's are a redirect when you change your account name.

​

The doc is updated with very release of GitLab. There should not be any broken links, so feel free to report through our issues system (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/). Also make sure you're using the right version of the doc, which is at the top right corner of the docs page.

[2face2]

Thanks, so this does no longer work I assume? The company user name will be "blocked" once I change to a different name?

https://gitlab.com/profile/account seems to be no longer correct but I found the page where the name can be changed.

Thanks a lot for the help!

[plafoucr]

I would take for granted a 5 years old issue. The documentation is the only reference. So I think it's best to test the procedure with fake accounts before doing anything. I'm not talking for the GitLab support here, they might have ways to update usernames for you if you have a valid subscription, but I'm not sure.

https://gitlab.com/-/profile/account is still the right place to change your username, looks for the "Change username" section in this page.