diff --git a/news/config-UX.rst b/news/config-UX.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af826723
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/config-UX.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+**Added:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Changed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Deprecated:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Removed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Fixed:**
+
+* additional information to users to relieve frustration in finding how to update global config
+
+**Security:**
+
+* <news item>
diff --git a/src/diffpy/utils/tools.py b/src/diffpy/utils/tools.py
index 82cca8c9..7e5e858f 100644
--- a/src/diffpy/utils/tools.py
+++ b/src/diffpy/utils/tools.py
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ def _create_global_config(args):
     return_bool = False if username is None or email is None else True
     with open(Path().home() / "diffpyconfig.json", "w") as f:
         f.write(json.dumps({"username": stringify(username), "email": stringify(email)}))
+    print(
+        f"You can manually edit the config file at {Path().home() / 'diffpyconfig.json'} using any text editor.\n"
+        f"Or you can update the config file by passing new values to get_user_info(), "
+        f"see examples here: https://www.diffpy.org/diffpy.utils/examples/toolsexample.html"
+    )
     return return_bool