diff --git a/tests/test_package.py b/tests/test_package.py
index 8bc77b5..6f853da 100644
--- a/tests/test_package.py
+++ b/tests/test_package.py
@@ -78,3 +78,8 @@ def test_010_create_report(self):
             filter_string="acdh-transkribus-utils", transcription_threshold=1
         )
         self.assertEqual(len(status), 5)
+
+    def test_011_user_id(self):
+        client = CLIENT
+        user_id = client.get_user_id(client.user)
+        self.assertTrue(user_id)
diff --git a/transkribus_utils/transkribus_utils.py b/transkribus_utils/transkribus_utils.py
index a90cfca..7de2624 100644
--- a/transkribus_utils/transkribus_utils.py
+++ b/transkribus_utils/transkribus_utils.py
@@ -428,7 +428,24 @@ def upload_iiif_from_url(self, iiif_url, col_id):
             )
             return False
 
-    def create_status_report(self, filter_string: str, transcription_threshold: int = 10) -> list:
+    def get_user_id(self, user_name: str) -> int:
+        """returns the ID of the passed in user name
+        :param user_name: the user name
+
+        :return: the user's ID
+        """
+        r = requests.get(
+            f"{self.base_url}/user/list",
+            cookies=self.login_cookie,
+            params={"user": user_name},
+        )
+        response = r.json()
+        user_id = response["trpUser"][0]["userId"]
+        return user_id
+
+    def create_status_report(
+        self, filter_string: str, transcription_threshold: int = 10
+    ) -> list:
         """generates a report about the documents in the filterd collections
         :param filter_string: a string the collection name should contain
         :param transcription_threshold: minimum number of transcribed lines
@@ -472,10 +489,13 @@ def __init__(
     ) -> None:
         if user is None:
             user = os.environ.get("TRANSKRIBUS_USER", None)
+            self.user = user
             if user is None:
                 raise AttributeError(
                     "Transkribus username needs to be set in environments or in init"
                 )
+        else:
+            self.user = user
         if password is None:
             password = os.environ.get("TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD", None)
             if password is None: