Delete or remove a user from your organization

This page is for administrators who manage accounts for an organization or team. To delete your personal Google Account, go to Delete your Google Account.  

If a user no longer needs to collaborate with your team on your email-verified Google service—such as Google Workspace Business or Essentials, or Chrome Enterprise—you can remove their account. If you're using Google Workspace, you can transfer any Drive documents and files the user owns to another user, like an admin or manager.

You can remove one or more users at a time.

What happens to a removed user's account and data

After you remove a user's account from your Google service, their account is converted to a consumer Google Account. With a consumer account, a removed user can still access their account data. If you're using Google Workspace  and don't transfer ownership of the user's data, such as their Drive files, they'll continue to own that data and you'll no longer be able to manage it.

Before you begin

Paid editions of Business and Essentials editions only

Make sure you understand how billing is affected when you remove users

• For details about Business editions, see Understand Google Workspace bills and charges.
• For details about Enterprise Essentials, see Compare flexible and annual/fixed-term payment plans.
• For details about Essentials edition, see How Essentials billing works.

Check Drive sharing permissions 

To prevent removed users from accessing files in shared drives and other files shared directly with them—including files you transfer to another user—set Drive permissions to prevent sharing outside your organization.

Check Chat permissions

To prevent removed users from accessing chat messages sent directly to them (not through a chat group), set Chat permissions to prevent users from sending chat messages to people outside your organization.

Transfer files to a shared drive

As an alternative to transferring the user's files to a new owner, you can transfer them to a shared drive. All members of a shared drive collectively own all files. If one person leaves, other shared drive members can still access the files. This prevents files from being deleted when their owner’s account is removed. 

Learn more about shared drives, including how to migrate existing content to a shared drive.

All services

Remove admin role, if applicable

To remove a user who has an admin role, you need to remove the role first.

Remove one or more users

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. Choose one of the following methods to remove one or more users:
   Remove a single user

   1. In the Users list, find the user. If you need help, go to Find a user account.
   2. Point to the user you want to delete and click Remove user. (You can also find this option at the left of the user's account page.)

      

   Remove multiple users

   1. In the Users list, check the box next to each user that you want to remove.
   2. At the top of the page, click MoreRemove users.

      

      Tip: If all users you want to delete belong to the same organizational unit, select it on the left to find the users more easily. (You can click  at the upper left to see the organizational tree.) Or, if the users are in different organizations, on the left, select Users from all organization units.

4. (Optional for Business and Essentials editions) If you don't want to transfer the user's data:
   1. Select Don't transfer data.
   2. Check the box to indicate you understand you'll no longer manage this user's data and that Google isn't obligated to delete it.
5. (Optional for Business and Essentials editions) If you do want to transfer the user's data:
   • Select Transfer ownership of this user's data to another user (for example, a manager).
   • In the New owner's email address box , search for a user account by entering the first few characters of the user's name or email address. When you see the account you want, select it.
   • To transfer ownership of Drive data, under Select data to transfer, check Drive and Docs. Optionally, to transfer files that aren't shared with anyone, check Include files that are not shared with anyone.
     Important

     • Only Drive content that a user owns is transferred to another user, who becomes the new owner. 
     • Transferred content includes files of all types—such as recorded meetings and Jamboard files—not just Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and so on.
   • (Essentials editions only) To transfer ownership of Calendar data, under Select data to transfer, check Calendar.
6. Click Remove User or Remove Users.

Your Tasks list opens automatically and shows the progress of the account removal. To remove additional users, you'll need to wait for the current removal process to finish.

If you transferred data, removal usually takes a few minutes. However, it can take longer, depending on the number of files being transferred.

Note: After you remove a user, it might take a few hours for changes to take effect in their consumer account. For example, the user might not have access to their data immediately (if you let them keep their data).