Suspend a user

You can temporarily block a user's access to your organization's Google services by suspending their account. When you suspend an account, the user's:

  • Email, documents, calendars, or other data aren't deleted. However, the user's Google+ posts and comments might be deleted if the account remains suspended for at least 30 days.
  • Shared documents are still accessible to collaborators.
  • New email and calendar invitations are blocked.
     

Note: If Google suspended an account, rather than an administrator, email might still be delivered, depending on the context of the suspension.

After suspending a user, you can restore the account at any time. 

Using a team account? See instead Suspend a user from a team account.

Suspended accounts are still charged at the same rate as active accounts on both the Annual billing plan and the Flexible plan. To avoid charges for a user account you don't need, you can delete it instead.

Before you begin

What happens to a suspended user’s account and data?

  • G Suite access—G Suite services, such as Google Drive files, Gmail, and so on are  unavailable to the user.
  • Files and calendars—All events created by the user remain visible on invitees' calendars. The user's G Suite data, including all file types, Gmail, and calendar data (except for shared calendars) is unavailable to the user. For some data, you can transfer ownership to another user.
  • Sites pages—Pages created by the user are unavailable to the user. As an administrator, you can remove the sites.
  • Google Vault—All the user's Vault data is unavailable to the user, regardless of any retention settings or holds that might be in effect.
  • Google Play—The user's Google Play developer account is unavailable to the user. You can transfer some apps to another developer account, but you can't transfer apps that offer subscription products.
  • Google Keep—The user’s Keep notes are unavailable to the user. Shared Keep notes are still available to collaborators.
  • Google+—The user's Google+ profile and circles are unavailable. If the user is the sole owner of a community, collection, or events, the community remains, but any collection or events are deleted. For details about what happens to a suspended Google+ profile or page, see Google+ profile and page suspensions. 
  • Brand account—If your organization uses a Brand Account, any assets owned solely by one user, such as Google+ pages, Google My Business listings, and YouTube channels, are unavailable to the user. If there are other owners, the assets are transferred to another owner’s G Suite account.
  • Non-core services—Content in the user's non-core services, such as YouTube and Blogger, is unavailable to the user.

Suspend the user's account

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

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

  2. From the Admin console dashboard, go to Users.
  3. Next to the user you want to suspend, click Settings and choose Suspend.
  4. Click Suspend user to confirm.

If you suspend a user's account while they're in a classic Hangouts chat, the user can continue to participate until the session is over.

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