---
type: reference
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# Sign-up restrictions

You can use sign-up restrictions to require user email confirmation, as well as
to blacklist or whitelist email addresses belonging to specific domains.

>**Note**: These restrictions are only applied during sign-up. An admin is
able to add a user through the admin panel with a disallowed domain. Also
note that the users can change their email addresses after signup to
disallowed domains.

## Require email confirmation

You can send confirmation emails during sign-up and require that users confirm
their email address before they are allowed to sign in.

![Email confirmation](img/email_confirmation.png)

## Whitelist email domains

> [Introduced][ce-598] in GitLab 7.11.0

You can restrict users to only sign up using email addresses matching the given
domains list.

## Blacklist email domains

> [Introduced][ce-5259] in GitLab 8.10.

With this feature enabled, you can block email addresses of a specific domain
from creating an account on your GitLab server. This is particularly useful
to prevent malicious users from creating spam accounts with disposable email
addresses.

## Settings

To access this feature:

1. Navigate to the **Settings > General** in the Admin area.
1. Expand the **Sign-up restrictions** section.

For the:

- Blacklist, you can enter the list manually, or upload a `.txt` file that contains
list entries.

- Whitelist you must enter the list manually.

Both the whitelist and blacklist accept wildcards. For example, you can use
`*.company.com` to accept every `company.com` subdomain, or `*.io` to block all
domains ending in `.io`. Domains should be separated by a whitespace,
semicolon, comma, or a new line.

![Domain Blacklist](img/domain_blacklist.png)

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[ce-5259]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/5259
[ce-598]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/598