Should I choose to deactivate or delete a user to remove them from my account?

Question

How do I remove a sales rep from my account? What is the difference between deleting and deactivating a user in Zendesk Sell? What steps should I consider when someone is leaving my company?

Answer

Admins have two options to remove a person from the account, deactivate or delete. Both options will revoke the user's ability to access your Sell account and end all existing integrations created by that person.

Consider the differences below when deciding whether to deactivate or delete.

• Deactivate
• Delete

Tip: The main difference between deactivating and deleting a user is that a deactivated user can be reactivated while deleting a user is permanent. Keep in mind that if a user is deleted from the account and then needs to be added back to the account, they will be added as a brand new user. Any actions taken by the new user will not sync with historic reports.

Deactivate

The deactivate option is commonly used when an employee may return to the company at a future time or if an employee leaves the company and their past actions should be preserved in the account.

• Deactivate is a temporary option. You can reactivate or delete the user in the future.
• Leads, contacts, deals, and tasks can still remain under the deactivated user's name until ownership is updated. The user cannot be assigned new records in the account. 
• A deactivated user will still appear in Sell reports to analyze past actions of their accounts. 
• Historic email conversations of the deactivated user are preserved as long as the user remains deactivated. 

Note: If you plan to deactivate a user but do not want their email conversations preserved in Sell for privacy or security concerns, instruct the user to disconnect their email integration before you deactivate them from the account. The other option of removing a user from your account, deleting, will also remove all email conversations.

For more information, see the article: Deactivating a user in Sell.

Delete

The delete option is commonly used when a sales rep leaves the company and you want their records reassigned.  

• Deleting is a permanent option. 
• You are required to assign ownership of all the leads, contacts, and deals previously owned by your sales rep to another active user.
• A deleted user's name will appear on historic reports as "user name - deleted."
• All email conversation data from the sales rep is removed from Sell.

For more information, see the article: Deleting a user in Sell.

Important: Deactivating or deleting a user is not reflected in your subscription. Removing a user through either option opens up an available seat/license for another user to fill. For more information, see the article: Adding and removing Sell licenses. 

See a closer comparison of the activity impacted by deactivation or deletion in the table below: 

	Deactivation	Deletion
Notes	Notes of the deactivated user will stay in the account.	Notes of the deleted user will stay in the account.
Collaborator	A deactivated user will still appear as a collaborator.	A deleted user will still appear as a collaborator.
Phone calls	Phone calls of the deactivated user will stay in the account.	Phone calls of the deleted user will stay in the account.
Text messages	Text messages will be saved in the account.	Text messages will be saved in the account.
Emails	Unless the user disables the email integration before they are deactivated, their email conversations are frozen in Sell.	Deleting a user from the account will delete all email conversations in Sell.
Ownership	A deactivated user can remain the owner of leads, contacts, and deals.	You must reassign ownership of each lead, contact, and deal to another user. The deleted user's name will not appear in smart lists.
Tasks and Appointments	Future and past tasks and appointments of the deactivated user are saved in the account.	Future and past tasks and appointments of the deleted user are saved in the account under their "name - deleted."
Reports	The activities of deactivated users will still appear in reports.	The activity of deleted users, except email conversations, will appear in reports under their "name - deleted."