Password notification email is a common password recovery technique used by websites. If a user forgets their password then a password notification email is sent containing enough information for the user to access their account again. This method of password retrieval relies on the assumption that only the legitimate owner of the account has access to the inbox for that particular email address.

The process is often initiated by the user clicking on a forgotten password link on the website where, after entering their username or email address, the password notification email would be automatically sent to the inbox of the account holder. This email may contain a temporary password or a URL that can be followed to enter a new password for that account. The new password or the URL often contain a randomly generated string of text that can only be obtained by reading that particular email.

Another method used is to send all or part of the original password in the email. Sending only a few characters of the password, can help the user to remember their original password, without having to reveal the whole password to them.