Manage Calendar events for former users

As a G Suite administrator, you can manage Google Calendar events of former users. If their account is deleted or suspended without taking steps to manage calendar events, this can leave behind orphaned Google Calendar events. You can prevent the occurrence of orphaned calendar events in the following ways:

Transfer events when deleting a user
When you delete a user, you can transfer their future events to a new owner (for example, the former user’s manager). This will ensure that important future events aren’t missed.
  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 Home page, go to Users.
  3. To delete a user, next to their name, click More More  and then Delete.

    Or, from the user's account page, click More More and then Delete.

  4. To delete multiple users, hover over the user and check the box next to the users' names. Then, at the top of the page, click More More and then Delete.
  5. To transfer ownership of Calendar events, check the box. You can also choose to release resources.
  6. Confirm that you want to delete the user.
  7. If necessary, delete the user from your Gmail contacts list.

When the event transfer is finished, a new secondary calendar with the Transferred from user@domain.com name appears in the calendar list of the new owner. This calendar contains the events of the former user.

Note: Only future, non-private events (with at least 1 guest or resource) from primary calendars are transferred. Future private events are canceled so that orphaned events don't stay in resources and other user's calendars. If you don’t need to maintain the user’s data, then cancel all of their future events. Secondary calendars and events are not transferred.

Transfer events when suspending a user
After you suspend a user, you can transfer their future events to a new owner (for example, the former user’s manager). This will ensure that important future events aren’t missed.
  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 Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenCalendar.
  3. Click Manage User Data.
  4. Under Event Cancellation / Transfer, in the User text field, enter the source user (for example, the former employee) whose events need to be transferred.
  5. Select Keep user’s future events and Transfer Events to.
  6. (Optional) Select Release Resources to release calendar resources that are booked from a user’s future events. 
  7. In the text field that follows, enter the destination user who will become the new owner of the source user’s future calendar events.
  8. Click Transfer Events.

When the event transfer is finished, a new secondary calendar with the Transferred from user@domain.com name appears in the calendar list of the new owner. This calendar contains the events of the former user.

Note: Only future, non-private events (with at least 1 guest or resource) from primary calendars are transferred. Future private events are canceled so that orphaned events don't stay in resources and other user's calendars. If you don’t need to maintain the user’s data, then cancel all of their future events. Secondary calendars and events are not transferred.

Release resources former users booked

When a user leaves your organization, you can release resources booked by that user and make them available for use by others in the organization. 

  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 Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenCalendar.
  3. Click Manage User Data.
  4. Under Event Cancellation / Transfer, in the User text field, enter the source user (for example, the former employee) whose events need to be transferred.
  5. Select Keep user’s future events and Transfer Events to.
  6. Click Release Resources. 

The Release Resources operation starts approximately 10 minutes later and may last 15 minutes. You can trace each release resource operation in Google Calendar audit logs.

Cancel a former user’s events

If you don’t need to maintain a former user’s data, then you can cancel all of their future events, which will also prevent orphaned events.

  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 Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenCalendar.
  3. Click Manage User Data.
  4. Under Event Cancellation / Transfer, in the User text field, enter the source user (for example, the former employee) whose events need to be transferred.
  5. Check Cancel user’s future events.
  6. Click Cancel future events. 

The cancellation process starts approximately 10 minutes later, and can last  up to 15 minutes. Event cancellation notifications aren’t sent to avoid spamming event guests. You can trace each event cancellation operation in Google Calendar audit logs.

Note: You can’t undo this operation. If you delete a user’s future events by mistake, then you can restore those events from the user’s calendar’s trash.

Automatically cancel deleted user events

If you don’t need to maintain a former user’s data, then you can opt-in to automatically cancel their future events, which will also prevent orphaned events.

  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 Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenCalendar.
  3. Click Manage User Data.
  4. Under Events of deleted users, select Silently cancel future events of deleted users.

Google Calendar will automatically cancel all future events for all users you delete in your domain. The event cancellations will occur 21 days after a user gets deleted, and they will not trigger a notification to prevent mass emails. You can trace each event cancellation in Google Calendar audit logs.

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