Why can't I delete an email alias during onboarding?

When syncing users from an HRIS like Personio, Cakewalk handles email addresses differently depending on the sequence of events during onboarding.

How email syncing works

• Before onboarding starts: If the HRIS updates a user's personal email to their work email, Cakewalk overrides the primary email. No alias is created.
• After onboarding starts: If the HRIS updates the email after you've already kicked off onboarding, Cakewalk preserves the original email and adds the new work email as an alias. This prevents identification issues on first login since an invite was already sent.

How to delete the alias during onboarding

You can delete the personal email alias before onboarding is complete, but you must first manually update the user's primary email address to their work email in Cakewalk. To do this:

1. Go to User Overview and select the user.
2. Edit the user's primary email to their work email address.
3. Once saved, you can delete the personal email alias.

Best practice

To avoid personal emails appearing as aliases altogether, update the user's work email in your HRIS before starting onboarding in Cakewalk.