Cancel or transfer calendar events before deleting a user

If you delete or suspend a user without managing their Google Calendar events, the events no longer have an organizer that can change, update, or cancel them. The events block other users’ calendars and can block meeting rooms and resources. To avoid these problems, you can cancel, transfer, or release future events and resources before you delete a user.

If you cancel events, the resources are released. You can transfer events to a new owner and keep or release an event's booked resources.

On this page

• Should I cancel or transfer events?
• Transfer or release an undeleted user’s resources & events
• Transfer events while deleting a user
• Automatically cancel future events for all deleted users
• Cancel future events for individual users

Should I cancel or transfer events?

• If you don’t need to retain a user’s meetings and events, you can cancel their events. When you cancel events, Calendar doesn’t send notifications so guests don’t get spammed.
• If you want to keep a user’s events and resources, you can transfer events from their primary calendar with at least one guest or resource. Any private events are canceled. Secondary calendars and events do not transfer. And, you can't transfer the events of a user on a litigation hold.
• If a user is suspended (not deleted), their events remain in Calendar and only super administrators can modify them.

Transfer or release an undeleted user’s resources & 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 EventsEvents transfer and enter the username of the user you're deleting.
4. Choose an option:
   • To release the resources and not transfer the events, check the Release resources boxclick Release Resources.
   • To transfer the events to another user, check the Transfer events to other user box, enter the username of the new ownerclick Transfer Events.
5. Click Done.

The release or transfer starts approximately 10 minutes later and can last 15 minutes. After a transfer, a new secondary calendar with the former user’s events appears in the calendar list of the new owner.

Transfer events while deleting a user

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. Check the box next to the users you want to delete and click More optionsDelete selected users.
4. For Data in other apps, select the Transfer option and enter the username of the new owner.
5. Check the boxes to choose which data to transfer.
6. For Calendar, check the Also release all calendar resources booked in events organized by the user box.
7. Click Delete User or Delete Users.
8. If necessary, delete the user from your contacts list. For the steps, go to Update contacts.

After the event transfer, a new secondary calendar with the former user’s events appears in the calendar list of the new owner.

Automatically cancel future events for all deleted users

With this option, 21 days after you delete a user, the system automatically cancels their future events. This option does not apply retroactively to previously deleted users.

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. For Events of deleted users, check the Silently cancel future events of deleted users box.
5. Click Save.

Cancel future events for individual users

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 EventsEvents Cancellation.
4. Enter the user name of the user whose events you're deletingCancel events.
5. Click Done.

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

Related topics

• View and track changes to user events in Google Calendar
• Remove deleted users' events from a calendar
• Change your event privacy settings
• How Google Meet settings apply to events created on or transferred to other Google Calendars
• Restore a recently deleted user