Remember: You can only disable user records; they can’t be deleted. Before disabling a record, ensure all the records owned by this user need to be assigned to another user. Also, please do not delete or reassign the Salentica Maintenance users. They are required for your CRM to run properly.

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In this article, we are going to show you how to disable a user, but also give you some ideas about how to update your existing records in your CRM so that they are reassigned to another user. This will ensure that the records will still be accessible. 

 

You can unassign licenses from users on either the Active users page, or on the Licenses page. The method you use depends on whether you want to unassign product licenses from specific users or unassign users licenses from a specific product.

Disabling a User

Before you begin

• You must be a Global, License, User admin to unassign licenses. For more information, see About Microsoft 365 admin roles.
• You can remove licenses from user accounts with Office 365 PowerShell.
• You can also delete user accounts that were assigned a license to make their license available to other users. When you delete a user account, their license is immediately available to assign to someone else.

Use the Licenses page to unassign licenses

When you use the Licenses page to unassign licenses, you unassign licenses for a specific product for up to 20 users.

1. In the admin center, go to the Billing > Licenses page.
2. Select the product for which you want to unassign licenses.
3. Select the users for which you want to unassign licenses.
4. Select Unassign licenses.
5. In the Unassign licenses box, select Unassign.

Use the Active users page to unassign licenses

When you use the Active users page to unassign licenses, you unassign product licenses from users.

Unassign licenses from one user

1. In the admin center, go to the Users > Active users page.
2. Select the row of the user that you want to unassign a license for.
3. In the right pane, select Licenses and Apps.
4. Expand the Licenses section, clear the boxes for the licenses that you want to unassign, then select Save changes.

Unassign licenses from multiple users

1. In the admin center, go to the Users > Active users page.
2. Select the circles next to the names of the users that you want to unassign licenses for.
3. At the top, select More options (...), then select Manage product licenses.
4. In the Manage product licenses pane, select Replace existing product license assignments > Next.
5. At the bottom of the Replace existing products pane, select the Remove all product licenses from the selected users check box, then select Replace > Close.

Updating Existing Records

What happens to a user's data when you remove their license?

• When a license is removed from a user, data that is associated with that account is held for 30 days. After the 30-day grace period, the data is deleted and can't be recovered.
• To learn how to block a user's access to Microsoft 365 data after their license is removed, and how to get access to the data afterwards, see Remove a former employee.
• If you remove a user's license and they still have Office apps installed, they see Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office when they use Office apps.
• User Advanced Find to open Activities, active Relationships, Contacts, Accounts, Families, etc., and reassign these records appropriately. Then, when you go to disable their user, you will be able to assign all other open records to yourself, or one other user. Here is an Advanced Find Article that helps walk you through suggested queries to find the needed records to reassign.

Next steps

1. You can transfer ALL records owned by the disabled user to yourself or another (single) user.
2. You can pull useful Advanced Finds to view open records and assign them as needed. Some of the queries we recommend include: Activities, Relationships, Contacts, Families, Accounts, or any other Entities (or fields) that have the user assigned.

Reassign All Records

1. Click on Advanced Settings
2. Click Settings > Security > Users
3. Select a user & click Edit
4. Click Reassign Records
5. Select Assign to Me or Assign to Another User or Team and find the correct user/team
6. Click OK

Advanced Find Ideas

We recommend that you pull your active records that belong to the user that is to be disabled, so that they can be reassigned appropriately. Here is an example of an Advanced Find on Relationships that can help you find that information:

 

Another idea would be to use a System or Personal View with Record Owner included, so that you can export/import, or use Excel Online to make the updates in bulk: