diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 554e715..4fcaabf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -63,8 +63,29 @@ Mercury uses [`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) to store and s
 2. `pnpm install && pnpm build` (You need to recompile the frontend each time the UI code changes.)
 3. Manually set the labels for annotators to choose from in the `labels.yaml` file. Mercury supports hierarchical labels.
 4. Generate and set a JWT secret key: `export SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)`. You can rerun the command above to generate a new secret key when needed, especially when the old one is compromised. Note that changing the JWT token will log out all users. Optionally, you can also set `EXPIRE_MINUTES` to change the expiration time of the JWT token. The default is 7 days (10080 minutes).
-5. Administer the users: `python3 user_utils.py -h`. You need to create users before they can work on the annotation task. You can register new users, reset passwords, and delete users. User credentials are stored in a separate SQLite database, denoted as `USER_DB` in the following steps. 
-6. Start the Mercury annotation server: `python3 server.py --mercury_db {MERCURY_DB} --user_db {USER_DB}`. Be sure to set the candidate labels to choose from in the `labels.yaml` file.
+5. Start the Mercury annotation server: `python3 server.py --mercury_db {MERCURY_DB} --user_db {USER_DB}`. Be sure to set the candidate labels to choose from in the `labels.yaml` file.
+
+### Administer the users
+
+Administration is done via Python script and csv file.
+
+1. Export user data: `python3 user_utils.py export`
+2. Edit csv file
+
+   | user_id | user_name | email        | password                                          | delete                     |
+   |---------|-----------|--------------|---------------------------------------------------|----------------------------|
+   | user_id | user_name | unique email | empty. fill new password if you want to change it | initial: 0 (not to delete) |
+
+   1. Do not edit `user_id`. If you want to create a new user, create a raw and left `user_id` empty.
+   
+      When creating new user, left `password` empty to let the script generate a random password.
+   2. Edit `user_name`, `email`, `password` if you want to change them. Left them unchanged or empty if you don't.
+   3. Change `delete` to 1 if you want to delete a user. If `user_id` is empty, this has no effect and a new user will be created.
+
+3. Apply changes: `python3 user_utils.py apply`
+   
+   If you want to delete users, confirm with `-d` flag: `python3 user_utils.py apply -d`
+
 
 The annotations are stored in the `annotations` table in a SQLite database (hardcoded name `mercury.sqlite`). See the
 section [`annotations` table](#annotations-table-the-human-annotations) for the schema.
diff --git a/user_utils.py b/user_utils.py
index 67af63d..7ee322c 100644
--- a/user_utils.py
+++ b/user_utils.py
@@ -80,10 +80,10 @@ def apply(self, destructive: bool):
             user_name = row["user_name"]
             email = row["email"]
             delete = row["delete"]
-            if (user_id is None or self.get_user_by_id(user_id) is None) and delete != "1":
+            if user_id is None:
                 new_password = self.new_user(user_name, email, password)
                 print(f"Created new user {user_name} with email {email} and password {new_password}")
-                break
+                continue
             if delete == "1":
                 if destructive:
                     self.delete_user(user_id)
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@ def apply(self, destructive: bool):
                 else:
                     print(f"To delete user {user_id}, use the --destructive or -d flag")
                 continue
+            if self.get_user_by_id(user_id) is None:
+                print(f"User {user_id} does not exist, ignored.")
+                continue
             if password is not None and password != "":
                 self.reset_user_password(user_id, password)
             if user_name is not None and user_name != "":