How to remove a leaver from Google Workspace

Who can do it

Any admin with user privileges can delete; only super admins can transfer Drive, Calendar and Data Studio data during deletion.

Steps in Google Workspace

Start at https://admin.google.com/ac/users.

1. Transfer data first (Drive, Gmail, group calendars) or pick Transfer during deletion as super admin.
2. In the Admin console, go to Directory > Users.
3. Tick the user, click More options > Delete selected users.
4. Super admin: next to Data in other apps, select Transfer, choose the receiving user and the data types.
5. Click Delete User.

What happens to their data

Data not transferred is deleted. Super admins transfer Drive and Docs (optionally files shared with nobody), primary Calendar and Data Studio during deletion. Gmail needs a migration or a redirect. Secondary and group calendars must be transferred before deletion or they are lost. The user is suspended until the transfer completes.

Getting the seat back

Deleting frees the licence. Suspending keeps it billed; archiving (Archived User licence) is the paid middle ground.

SCIM and the API

SCIM: not offered. Leavers are removed through the Admin SDK Directory API, not SCIM.

API: Suspend, then delete after the Data Transfer API job, PUT https://admin.googleapis.com/admin/directory/v1/users/{userKey} {"suspended": true}; POST https://admin.googleapis.com/admin/datatransfer/v1/transfers; DELETE .../users/{userKey} (docs).

Traps

• Deleted users can be restored for 20 days; after that the data is unrecoverable.
• Files in private folders can transfer while the folder does not, leaving files unbrowseable; the new owner finds them with is:unorganized owner:me.
• If a transfer fails, deletion stops and the account stays.
• Untransferred files in Trash are deleted with the user.

Check after

• Transfer email arrived at the receiving user.
• Shared drives they managed still have a manager.
• Group ownership moved.
• Third-party apps that used Sign in with Google lose access only when their own session expires: remove them there too.

How Caspian does this

Caspian removes the person from Google Workspace when they leave, over api. Where an app has no SCIM on your plan, Caspian runs an AI-generated browser script you can read and audit before it runs. The same leaver flow covers their laptop and the access inside other apps. Start for free, no sales call.

Sources

• Delete or remove a user from your organization, checked 2026-11-04
• Transfer Drive files to a new owner as an admin, checked 2026-11-04
• Options to preserve former employee data, checked 2026-11-04