The goal of this knowledge article is to present how to deactivate and delete a user in Okta. 

• Okta users
• Lifecycle Management
• Deactivation
• Deletion

When an Admin deactivates a user account, the account status changes from Active to Deactivated. Deactivated users can no longer access their assigned applications. The deletion cannot be undone when an Admin deletes a user account. Users identified as a technical or billing contact cannot be deleted. The permanent deletion of Customer Data is automatically initiated in 30 days. Any data referencing the user is kept for a period defined by the Okta Data Retention Policy. See Okta Data Retention Policy.

Please see the steps and video below.

How to deactivate an end user:

1. Log in to the Admin Dashboard and navigate to Directory > People.
2. Search for and click the user to be deactivated and deleted.
3. From the More Actions menu, click Deactivate.
4. A Deactivate Person dialog appears. Click Deactivate to confirm, or click Cancel to abort.
5. The end user is listed as Deactivated under the Status column. Once deactivated, a user's profile cannot be changed unless it is reactivated.

How to delete an end user:

1. In the Admin Console, go to Directory > People.
2. Search for and click on the user that will be deleted.
3. Click a user name in the Person & Username column.
4. Click Delete (the user must be deactivated first).
5. Click Delete in the dialog box that appears.

After deletion, the user is no longer visible on the People page and is not returned in API calls. However, the user name and other identifiers can be reused.
 

Related References

• Deactivate and delete user accounts

• Okta Data Retention Policy
• Bulk Delete Users via Postman