91 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
91 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: howto
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stage: Manage
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group: Access
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
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---
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# Deleting a User account
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Users can be deleted from a GitLab instance, either by:
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- The user themselves.
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- An administrator.
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NOTE: **Note:**
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Deleting a user will delete all projects in that user namespace.
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## As a user
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As a user, you can delete your own account by:
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1. Clicking on your avatar.
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1. Navigating to **Settings > Account**.
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1. Selecting **Delete account**.
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## As an administrator
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As an administrator, you can delete a user account by:
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1. Navigating to **Admin Area > Overview > Users**.
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1. Selecting a user.
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1. Under the **Account** tab, clicking:
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- **Delete user** to delete only the user but maintaining their
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[associated records](#associated-records).
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- **Delete user and contributions** to delete the user and
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their associated records.
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DANGER: **Warning:**
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Using the **Delete user and contributions** option may result
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in removing more data than intended. Please see [associated records](#associated-records)
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below for additional details.
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## Associated Records
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> - Introduced for issues in [GitLab 9.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/7393).
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> - Introduced for merge requests, award emoji, notes, and abuse reports in [GitLab 9.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10467).
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> - Hard deletion from abuse reports and spam logs was introduced in [GitLab 9.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10273), and from the API in [GitLab 9.3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/11853).
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There are two options for deleting users:
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- **Delete user**
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- **Delete user and contributions**
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When using the **Delete user** option, not all associated records are deleted with the user.
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Here's a list of things that will **not** be deleted:
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- Issues that the user created.
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- Merge requests that the user created.
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- Notes that the user created.
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- Abuse reports that the user reported.
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- Award emoji that the user created.
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Instead of being deleted, these records will be moved to a system-wide
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user with the username "Ghost User", whose sole purpose is to act as a container
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for such records. Any commits made by a deleted user will still display the
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username of the original user.
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When using the **Delete user and contributions** option, **all** associated records
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are removed. This includes all of the items mentioned above including issues,
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merge requests, notes/comments, and more. Consider
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[blocking a user](../../admin_area/blocking_unblocking_users.md)
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or using the **Delete user** option instead.
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When a user is deleted from an [abuse report](../../admin_area/abuse_reports.md)
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or spam log, these associated
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records are not ghosted and will be removed, along with any groups the user
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is a sole owner of. Administrators can also request this behavior when
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deleting users from the [API](../../../api/users.md#user-deletion) or the
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Admin Area.
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<!-- ## Troubleshooting
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Include any troubleshooting steps that you can foresee. If you know beforehand what issues
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one might have when setting this up, or when something is changed, or on upgrading, it's
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This is important to minimize requests for support, and to avoid doc comments with
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Each scenario can be a third-level heading, e.g. `### Getting error message X`.
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