Restore a suspended user

This article is for administrators. To restore your gmail.com account, read about disabled accounts.

As an administrator for your organization's Google Workspace or Cloud Identity service, you can restore suspended user accounts that were any of the following:

• Suspended by you or another administrator to temporarily block their access
• Automatically suspended by Google systems for being at risk
• Temporarily restricted from using their Gmail account for exceeding account limits (Google Workspace only)
• Automatically suspended from Gmail for potential spam abuse (Google Workspace only)

Once restored, users can sign in and access all their services and data.

Important: You can’t restore an account that was suspended for abuse or for breaching the ​Google Workspace​ or Cloud Identity Terms of Service. 

Find a suspended user account

You can find suspended accounts with one of these methods:

• Search user reports—Go to Menu Reporting Reports User Reports Security:
  • Scroll through the User account status column to look for suspended accounts.
  • Filter User Reports. Click Add a filter, select User account status Suspended, then click Apply.
• Search with the Security Investigation tool—Go to Security Security center  Investigation tool. Under Data source, select Users. Click Add condition and select Suspended ID. Use the Condition builder to add the operator is and the condition True, then search.

Restore an individual user account

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. Click Add a filter and choose User status.
   
   
4. Check the Suspended box and click Apply.
5. In the Users list, on the row for the suspended user you want to restore, click More optionsReactivate.

   

   Tip: You can also find this option on the user's account page.
6. To confirm, click Reactivate.

   If the Reactivate option isn't available, check Suspension reasons and their recovery options later in this article.

Restore users in bulk

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You can restore suspended user accounts in bulk by using a CSV file or the Admin SDK APIs.

Use a CSV file

To restore multiple user accounts using a CSV file, follow the directions in Add several users at once.

In the downloaded CSV template, in the New Status [Upload Only] column, enter Active.

Use the Admin SDK APIs

To restore multiple users using the Admin SDK APIs, follow the directions on the Users: update page. For each user, set the suspended boolean variable to False.

Suspension reasons and their recovery options

The reason why a user account was suspended appears at the top of their user account page.

Suspension message	Definition	Recovery options
Suspended by admin	You or another administrator manually suspended the user.	To restore the user, on the user's account page in the upper-right corner, click Reactivate.
Automatically suspended: The user is underage	The user signed up for an extra Google service (such as Google Pay) and entered a date of birth that didn't meet the minimum age requirements. In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Google will delete the user account after 30 days. Note: Google Workspace for Education edition customers have different age requirements. If a student under the age of 13 has been suspended, admins should contact Google Workspace support.	Method 1: Administrators can correct the user’s age directly. To update, on the user's account page in the upper-right corner, click Update User's Birthdate. Method 2: If the user entered their date of birth incorrectly, they have 30 days to sign in at accounts.google.com and submit proof of age.
Automatically suspended: Unverified sign-in	Two possible causes for the suspension: Cause 1: The user was suspended for engaging in abusive activity, such as phishing or spamming.	The user can recover their account by signing in at accounts.google.com and following the on-screen instructions. Depending on the type and severity of the abuse, the user is prompted to either clear a CAPTCHA or enter a verification code sent to their mobile phone.
	Cause 2: The user's account was added along with many other accounts within a short period, such as when you add multiple users at once using a CSV file or manually add many accounts quickly.	The user can activate their account by signing in at accounts.google.com and entering a verification code sent to their mobile phone.
Automatically suspended: The user might be at risk	The user was suspended after Google systems detected potentially suspicious sign-in activity.	Note: Before restoring the user account, follow the steps in the Administrator security checklist. To restore the user account, on the user's account page in the upper-right corner, click Reactivate.
Automatically suspended: Didn't follow Google Terms of Service	The user was suspended for abuse by breaching the Google Workspace or Cloud Identity Terms of Service.	Such accounts are unrecoverable; they can't be restored by a Google administrator or Google Workspace support.

Related topics

• Find a user account
• About the security center