# Control sessions and automatic logout

The inactivity timer and what users see when it fires, the remember-me switches, and the hidden license-eviction setting — plus how sessions and license seats actually relate.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 15 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/control-sessions-and-automatic-logout

**At the end of this guide, idle sessions end themselves on your schedule — with users warned before it happens — and the convenience switches match your security posture.**

The settings live in **Administration** > **System Settings** > **Security Settings**.

## The inactivity timer

**Inactivity Logout Delay in Minutes** — "Setting to 0 disables." With a value set, a user who stops interacting gets a warning first: a **Session Expiring Soon** dialog with a live countdown — "Your session will expire due to inactivity. Click 'Stay Logged In' to continue working." — and two buttons that do what they say. The warning appears about a minute before the end, so the timer you set is the *total* idle time, not idle-time-plus-warning.

Two things the timer counts as activity: mouse and keyboard in the Content Central tab. A document left open on a second monitor while someone works elsewhere is *idle* — warn your long-reading users that the countdown dialog is their friend, not a glitch.

## The convenience switches

- **Login page should remember usernames** — prefills the name, asks for the password.
- **Allow users to stay logged in** — the full keep-me-signed-in option. Kiosk and shared-workstation shops leave both off; private-desk shops usually allow them.

## The hidden one

A third, related setting ships hidden: **Logout existing session of login user when login-limit reached**. To reveal it, click the period at the end of the inactivity setting's "Setting to 0 disables" description — genuinely; the setting appears below it. It governs whether a user hitting the seat limit evicts *their own* older session first (the second-machine-signs-out-the-first behavior).

## Sessions and seats, related but different

The timer ends sessions; licensing counts them. Three facts save confusion:

- **Browser tabs share one session** — and one license seat. A second *browser* or machine is a second session.
- When seats run out, **the newest login always wins** — someone else's oldest idle session is signed out to make room. That's [licensing behavior](/content-central/administration/how-user-licenses-work), not the inactivity timer, though the user experience ("I got logged out!") looks identical.
- A sensible inactivity delay is your best licensing lever: idle sessions release seats *before* anyone has to be evicted.

**Success check:** set the delay to 2 minutes, sign in as a test user, and touch nothing — the countdown dialog appears, then the login page. Set the real value and confirm the change survived by checking the setting reads back correctly.

## What's next

- [How user licenses work](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/how-user-licenses-work)
- [Set password policy and self-service reset](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-password-policy-and-self-service-reset)