Cancel or transfer calendar events before deleting a user

As an administrator, you can prevent problems that might occur with events when a user leaves an organization. If you delete or suspend a user without managing that user’s events, then those events no longer have an organizer that can change, update, or cancel them. Those events also don’t update uniformly across users and can tie up resources that your team needs for booking. 

When an admin deletes a user, the system doesn’t necessarily purge invitees’ copies of events that the former user created. Those copies stay in the calendars of guests and of booked resources. Also, suspended users’ events remain in Calendar, and only super administrators can modify them, not guests. You can prevent these situations in the following ways.

Transfer events

You can transfer future, nonprivate events with at least one guest or resource from primary calendars. The system cancels future private events, so they 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 do not transfer. 

After the event transfer, a new secondary calendar with the former user’s events and the Transferred from [e-mail] name appears in the calendar list of the new owner.

Release & transfer formerly booked resources & events 

You can't release resources for accounts that are deleted or on litigation hold. However, you can release resources booked by a former—but not yet deleted—user. Releasing resources allows others to book them.

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  AppsGoogle WorkspaceCalendar.
3. Click Manage Events.
4. Under Events transfer, in the username text field, enter the source user (for example, the former employee) whose events need to be transferred.
5. Select Release resources.
6. (Optional) To transfer events to another user, click Transfer Events to other user and enter the username of the user you want to transfer the events to.
7. Click Transfer Events or, if only the Release resources box is checked, Release Resources. 

This operation starts approximately 10 minutes later and can last 15 minutes. You can trace released resources in the Calendar audit log.

Transfer events when deleting a user (super administrator only)

When deleting a user, transfer their future events to a new owner to ensure that no one misses important events. You can't transfer events of a user on litigation hold.

You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. Choose an option:
   • To delete a single user:
     1. In the Users list, find the user.
     2. Point to the user you want to delete and click MoreDelete user. (You can also find this option on the left side of the user's account page.
   • To delete multiple users:
     1. Check the box for each user you want to delete in the Users list. 
        Tip: If all users belong to the same organizational unit, select it on the left to find the users more easily. (At the upper left, you can click Opento see the organizational tree.) Or, if the users are in different organizational units, on the left, select Users from all organizational units.
     2. At the top of the page, click Delete selected users.
4. In the Transfer ownership to section, search for a user account by entering the first few characters of the user's name or email addressselect the account you want.
5. (Optional) Check the boxes to choose which data to transfer.
6. Check Also release all calendar resources booked in events organised by the user to make sure that future non-private Calendar events and resources are transferred.
7. Click Delete User or Delete Users.
8. If necessary, delete the user from your contacts list. Follow the steps in Delete or restore contacts.

Cancel future events

You can cancel certain users’ future events manually or automatically. If you take one of these options, to avoid spamming guests, Calendar doesn't send event cancellation notifications. You can trace event-cancellation operations in the Calendar audit log.

Have a user’s events canceled automatically 

If you opt in to Silently cancel future events of deleted users, then 21 days after you delete a user, the system automatically cancels their future events.

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  AppsGoogle WorkspaceCalendar.
3. Click Manage Events. 
4. Under Events of deleted users, select Silently cancel future events of deleted users.
5. Click Save. 

For this feature to work, you must opt in within 20 days of deleting the user. It does not apply retroactively to previously deleted users.

Manually cancel future events for an as-yet undeleted user 

You can cancel a user’s future events all at once. 

Important: You can’t undo this operation. If you delete a user’s future events by mistake, follow the steps in Restore deleted events.

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  AppsGoogle WorkspaceCalendar.
3. Click Manage Events.
4. Under Events Cancellation or Events Transfer, in the User field, enter the source user (for example, the former employee) whose events need to be transferred.
5. Click Cancel events or Transfer events. 
6. Click Done.

The cancellation process starts approximately 10 minutes later and can last up to 15 minutes. 

Related topics

• Delete a user’s account
• Suspend a user temporarily
• Remove deleted users' events from a calendar 

• How Google Meet settings apply to events created on or transferred to other Google Calendars