As an IT admin, there are certain tasks and process that happen almost daily. We’re using customer feedback to identify those common tasks and make them easier and faster to perform with repeatable results. Deleting a user when they leave an organization is one of those common tasks. From the IT side, it can take multiple steps to offboard a user. From the business side, it can be easy to lose valuable data stored in the user’s documents and email.
We’re combining the steps it takes to delete a user, retain their documents, and retain their email into a single workflow with in-context guidance. This guided workflow is available now to all Microsoft 365 admins.
Start the process and decide what to do with licenses
When a user leaves your organization, you should immediately block their access to your Microsoft 365 subscription. This gives you some time to decide what to do with their licenses, documents, and emails. The Microsoft 365 admin center will walk you through each of these choices when you start the delete process.
The first choice you’ll need to make it what to do with that user’s licenses. If you purchased their licenses from a partner or through a volume licensing agreement, their licenses will return to your available pool so that you can assign them to another user. If you purchased the licenses thorough a direct subscription and do not want to reallocate them to a different user, you can also choose to reduce your monthly spend.
Assign OneDrive access
The person leaving your organization may have stored important files on their OneDrive that you want to retain for later use. In the guided workflow for deleting a user, you have the option to assign access to those files to anyone in your organization. Previously, your only option was to assign access to their manager using Azure Active Directory, and it was a multi-step process that only applied to OneDrive.
Assign email access
It can also be helpful to retain access to a deleted user’s email. When a user leaves your organization, you can convert their mailbox to a shared mailbox and assign access to anyone within the organization. You can change the display name, turn on automatic replies, and disassociate aliases so that they can be used elsewhere. Automatic replies can be especially valuable for anyone that had regular interaction with people outside of your company, ensuring that you can maintain relationships with your clients and vendors.
Review your selections
Once you’ve decided what you want to do with your deleted user's licenses, files, and emails, you’ll have the opportunity to review those settings before you finalize the process.
After selecting “Assign access and convert user,” Microsoft 365 will perform the requested actions and notify any user who now has access to the emails and files.
More actionable insights built in
Our goal is to provide timely, concise help directly within the context of the admin center so that you can deliver the highest possible service quality to your end user. Look for more actionable intelligence and guided workflows as we continue to improve the Microsoft 365 admin experience. To stay up to date on the latest news and features for Microsoft 365, join the conversation in the Microsoft 365 Tech Communities and on Twitter.
and learn about best practices directly from the product teams.