You can restore a user account (including administrator accounts) up to 20 days after deleting it. After 20 days, the data is gone and you can’t restore it.
If the user was previously suspended or had their data transferred, they'll show as a suspended user. To give them access to their data, go to Restore a suspended user.
Note: Learn how to delete a user from your organization.
Before you begin
You can’t restore a user if...
- It’s been longer than 20 days since you deleted the user account.
- You don’t have an available user license for the service or edition that was previously assigned to the user.
- Your domain is no longer available or has been moved to another Google Workspace account.
If the username is being used
If the username is now associated with another account or group, you still might be able to restore the user:
- Search for the username in your Admin console. For details, go to Search in the Admin console.
Note: Group aliases are not available in search or search results. - If the username is being used by an alias address or group, change or delete the group's username.
- Follow the steps below to restore the user that previously used that username.
Restore a user and their data
Restore a user
You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.
Tip: On the Admin console home page, you can see the total number of recently deleted users in the Users section. To go directly to the deleted users page, click that number, and then go to step 4 below.
-
Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).
- In the Admin console, go to Menu
Directory
Users.
- Click More options
- Point to the user
- Review the confirmation notice
- Select an organizational unit to assign the user to.
Note: Learn how the organizational structure works. - Click Recover.
Note: Usually, it takes up to 24 hours for this change to take effect, but in rare cases it can take up to 5 days.
Restore a user’s previous services and data
When you restore a user, they get access to all their previous services and data. However, how the user’s previous service is restored depends on the number of services and type of license assignment you have with your account.
- Single service—If you have only one Google service, restoring a user automatically reactivates access for the user.
- Multiple services with automatic licenses assignment—If you have more than one service, the user’s access is automatically restored for those services that have automatic license assignment turned on. To learn more, go to Automatically assign a license to every user in your organization.
- Multiple services without automatic license assignment—If you have more than one service, you need to manually reassign any licenses for services that do not have automatic license assignment turned on. To learn more, go to Reassign licenses.
- Archived User licenses—If the user had an Archived User (AU) license, you need to manually reassign that license to ensure that the user's data and policies are properly restored. To learn more, go to Manage former employees and their data.
