Remove or deactivate a user

Last updated: May 19, 2026

Remove or deactivate a user

Two flavors of offboarding: Remove = full removal from this workspace, seat freed (if user has no other memberships in your Org). Deactivate = user keeps account but cannot log in until reactivated, seat still counted. Both at Settings → Team → People → action menu.

Who is this for

Admins handling team changes: someone leaves the company, a contractor's project ends, a member needs temporary suspension during an investigation.

Remove vs Deactivate — when to use which

Use Remove when

Use Deactivate when

Member is gone permanently (left company, contract ended)

Member is on extended leave (sabbatical, parental leave)

You need to free a seat for a new hire

You expect them back; want to preserve their setup

Compliance offboarding (data access revoked)

Investigation pending; restore access if cleared

Cleaning up dormant accounts

Member compromised; temporarily lock out

Remove is the most common. Deactivate is reserved for cases where the membership might be restored.

How to remove a member

Step 1: Open People page

Navigate to Settings → Team → People.

Step 2: Find the user

Search by name or email, or scroll the table.

Step 3: Action menu → Remove from workspace

Click the three-dot icon → Remove from workspace.

Step 4: Confirm

A modal shows:

  • Member's name + email

  • What loses access: this workspace's data and settings

  • What's preserved: their personal account (if they have other workspace memberships)

  • Whether their seat will be freed or still counted (depends on their other memberships in same Org)

  • Tick: Also revoke their API keys created in this workspace (default off)

Click Confirm removal. Backend calls DELETE /api/v1/team/members/:id. The team_membership row gets deleted_at set (soft delete). The user is gone from your People page immediately.

Step 5: Audit log entry

action: team_membership_remove is recorded with target user ID and reason metadata (if you provided one).

How to deactivate a user

Same flow, but pick Deactivate user instead of Remove. Effect:

  • User cannot log in (sessions invalidated, login attempts blocked)

  • User retains workspace membership in DB (team_membership not soft-deleted)

  • Seat is still counted (deactivation doesn't free seats)

  • User invisible to others in People list only if you toggle "Hide deactivated users" — otherwise visible with Deactivated badge

Reactivate

Find them in the People list (toggle "Show deactivated" if hidden) → action menu → Reactivate. Sessions are not restored — they log in fresh. Same role, same workspace memberships, same data access.

Seat accounting on removal

Scenario

Seat freed?

User removed from your workspace; they're not in any other workspace in the Org

✅ yes

User removed from your workspace; they're still in workspace B in same Org

❌ no (seat counted by workspace B membership)

User removed from all workspaces in Org

✅ yes (their entire Org membership gone)

User deactivated (not removed)

❌ no

Pending invitation revoked

✅ yes

To free a seat occupied by a now-irrelevant user: remove them from all workspaces in your Org.

What happens to their stuff

When you remove or deactivate a user:

Their belongings

What happens

Campaigns they created

Stay in workspace, ownership reattributed to system/admin

Rules they set up

Continue firing under stored config (executes under stored creator ID, not session)

Creatives they uploaded

Stay in Creative Hub, attribution stays with original user (audit log)

API keys they created

Continue to work UNLESS you ticked "Also revoke API keys" — then revoked

Audit log entries

Preserved (immutable)

Their personal account

Survives if member of other workspaces; otherwise becomes orphan-account (still usable for re-acceptance of future invites)

This is intentional: removing a teammate shouldn't break running automation or lose attribution history.

Cannot remove

You cannot remove:

  • Yourself from your own workspace (must transfer ownership first or have another admin remove you — see team-105)

  • The only owner of a workspace (must transfer ownership first)

  • A user whose role you can't see/manage (you lack required permission)

Bulk removal

People page supports multi-select. Tick rows → toolbar → Remove from workspace → confirm. All removed in a single transaction (atomic — all or nothing).

Useful for end-of-project contractor offboarding or post-acquisition cleanup.

What you'll see

After removing:

  • The row disappears from the People table (or shows Deactivated badge if you deactivated)

  • Seat counter at /settings/team/billing updates (if seat freed)

  • Toast: "[name] removed from workspace"

  • Audit log entry visible in /settings/team/audit-log

Common issues

  • "Cannot remove last owner": transfer ownership first.

  • "You can't remove yourself": ask another admin, or transfer ownership and let them remove you.

  • Seat counter didn't decrease after removal: user has another membership in your Org. Remove from all to free.

  • Removed user's API keys still calling our API: you didn't tick "Revoke API keys". Revoke manually in their personal API keys section — wait, you can't see those. Contact support to force-revoke their API keys.

  • Deactivated user can still log in: bug; refresh their session by waiting up to 5 min for token expiry, or contact support to force-invalidate.

  • Removed by accident: re-invite via email. Their old data attribution survives, but you'll need to re-set role.

Soft delete + GDPR

Removal is soft delete (deleted_at timestamp). Audit + history retained. For permanent personal data erasure (GDPR right to be forgotten), the user (or you on their behalf with consent) must request personal account deletion — see acc-117 account deletion.

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