Merge pull request #30857 from MicrosoftDocs/main

[AutoPublish] main to live - 02/19 10:40 PST | 02/20 00:10 IST

Author: m365-skilling-repo-management[bot]

microsoft-365/admin/add-users/delete-a-user.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ f1.keywords:
 ms.author: deniseb
 author: denisebmsft
 manager: dansimp
-ms.date: 01/08/2026
+ms.date: 02/19/2026
 audience: Admin
 ms.topic: how-to
 ms.service: microsoft-365-security
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ customer-intent: As an administrator, I need to delete a user account because so
 
 # Delete a user from your organization
 
+If someone leaves your organization, or if you can't change a user's information, such as their email address, you can delete a user account in Microsoft 365 and then set up a new account. This article describes how to delete a user account and includes some important points to keep in mind.
+
 > Looking for how to delete your *own* Microsoft 365 user account that you use at work or school? Contact the technical support at your work or university to do these steps for you.
 
 ## Before you begin
@@ -38,18 +40,18 @@ customer-intent: As an administrator, I need to delete a user account because so
 
 ## Stop paying for their license, and choose what to do with their email and OneDrive content
 
-If you are a [user administrator, SharePoint administrator and an Exchange online administrator](about-admin-roles.md), when you delete a user you can give another user access to their email and choose what to do with their OneDrive content.
+If you're a [user administrator, SharePoint administrator and an Exchange online administrator](about-admin-roles.md), when you delete a user you can give another user access to their email and choose what to do with their OneDrive content.
 
 ### Things to consider
 
 Before you begin, think about what you want to do with the user's email and OneDrive content, and whether you want to keep the license or stop paying for it.
 
 |Item | Description |
 |:-----|:-----|
-|Product licenses |You can remove the license from the user and remove it from your subscriptions to stop paying for that license. If you select this option, the license will be removed automatically from your subscriptions.  <br/><br/> **You can't remove the license** if you bought it through a Partner or volume licensing. If you're paying for an annual plan or if you're in the middle of a billing cycle, you won't be able to remove the license from your subscription until your commitment is completed. |
-|OneDrive content |If the user saved their files to OneDrive, you can give another user access to these files.  <br/><br/> You'll need to move the files you want to keep within the retention period that is set for OneDrive files. **By default, the retention period is 30 days.** If you don't move the files within the retention period after deleting the user, the OneDrive for the deleted user is moved to the site collection recycle bin, where it is kept for 93 days. During this time, users will no longer be able to access any shared content in the OneDrive. To restore the OneDrive, you need to use PowerShell. For info, see [Restore a deleted OneDrive](/onedrive/restore-deleted-onedrive).<br/><br/> To increase the number of days that you retain OneDrive files for deleted accounts, see [Set the OneDrive retention for deleted users](/onedrive/set-retention).  <br/><br/> **Important!** If the deleted user used a personal computer to download files from SharePoint and OneDrive, there's no way for you to wipe those files they stored on their computer. They will continue to have access to any files that were synced from OneDrive. |
-|Email | Giving another user access to the deleted user's email will convert the deleted user's mailbox to a shared mailbox. The new mailbox owner can then access the mailbox and monitor for new email. You'll also have the following options:  <br/>  <br/>Change the display name - We recommend changing the display name so that it will be easy to identify the shared mailbox in the **Active users** list.  <br/>  <br/>  Turn on automatic replies - We've already written a polite automatic reply for you. You can send different automatic replies to people within your organization and people from outside your organization. <br/> <br/> [Remove any existing calendar permissions](/powershell/module/exchangepowershell/remove-mailboxfolderpermission) using PowerShell. <br/> <br/> Clean up aliases - Aliases are additional email addresses for users. Some organizations don't use them, so if you don't have any you don't need to do anything else here. If the user does have aliases, we recommend removing them so that you can reuse those email addresses. Otherwise, you can't reuse those email addresses until the retention period for deleted mailboxes has passed. By default, a deleted mailbox is recoverable for 30 days. For more information, see  [Delete or restore user mailboxes in Exchange Online](/exchange/recipients-in-exchange-online/delete-or-restore-mailboxes#delete-a-user-mailbox). |
-|Active Directory |If your business uses **Active Directory** that is synchronizing with Microsoft Entra ID, you need to delete the user account from Active Directory. You can't do it through Microsoft 365. For instructions, see [Delete a User Account](/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc753730(v=ws.11)). |
+|Product licenses |You can remove the license from the user and remove it from your subscriptions to stop paying for that license. If you select this option, the license is removed automatically from your subscriptions.  <br/><br/> **You can't remove the license** if you bought it through a Partner or volume licensing. If you're paying for an annual plan or if you're in the middle of a billing cycle, you won't be able to remove the license from your subscription until your commitment is completed. |
+|OneDrive content |If the user saved their files to OneDrive, you can give another user access to these files.  <br/><br/> You need to move the files you want to keep within the retention period that is set for OneDrive files. **By default, the retention period is 30 days.** If you don't move the files within the retention period after deleting the user, the OneDrive for the deleted user is moved to the site collection recycle bin, where it's kept for 93 days. During this time, users will no longer be able to access any shared content in the OneDrive. To restore the OneDrive, you need to use PowerShell. For info, see [Restore a deleted OneDrive](/onedrive/restore-deleted-onedrive).<br/><br/> To increase the number of days that you retain OneDrive files for deleted accounts, see [Set the OneDrive retention for deleted users](/onedrive/set-retention).  <br/><br/> **Important!** If the deleted user used a personal computer to download files from SharePoint and OneDrive, there's no way for you to wipe those files they stored on their computer. They'll continue to have access to any files that were synced from OneDrive. |
+|Email | Giving another user access to the deleted user's email converts the deleted user's mailbox to a shared mailbox. The new mailbox owner can then access the mailbox and monitor for new email. You have the following options:  <br/>  <br/>Change the display name - We recommend changing the display name so that it is easy to identify the shared mailbox in the **Active users** list.  <br/>  <br/>  Turn on automatic replies - A polite automatic reply already exists for you. You can send different automatic replies to people within your organization and people from outside your organization. <br/> <br/> [Remove any existing calendar permissions](/powershell/module/exchangepowershell/remove-mailboxfolderpermission) using PowerShell. <br/> <br/> Clean up aliases - Aliases are other email addresses for users. Some organizations don't use them, so if you don't have any you don't need to do anything else here. If the user does have aliases, we recommend removing them so that you can reuse those email addresses. Otherwise, you can't reuse those email addresses until the retention period for deleted mailboxes has passed. By default, a deleted mailbox is recoverable for 30 days. For more information, see  [Delete or restore user mailboxes in Exchange Online](/exchange/recipients-in-exchange-online/delete-or-restore-mailboxes#delete-a-user-mailbox). |
+|Active Directory |If your business uses **Active Directory** that's synchronizing with Microsoft Entra ID, you need to delete the user account from Active Directory. You can't do it through Microsoft 365. For instructions, see [Delete a User Account](/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc753730(v=ws.11)). |
 
 ### Delete a user account
 

microsoft-365/admin/add-users/remove-former-employee-step-5.md

@@ -5,14 +5,13 @@ f1.keywords:
 ms.author: deniseb
 author: denisebmsft
 manager: dansimp
-ms.date: 10/28/2025
+ms.date: 02/19/2026
 audience: Admin
 ms.topic: how-to
 ms.service: microsoft-365-security
 ms.localizationpriority: medium
 ms.collection:
 - Tier1
-- scotvorg
 - M365-subscription-management
 - Adm_O365
 - Adm_TOC
@@ -51,7 +50,6 @@ To preserve a former user's OneDrive files, first give yourself access to their
 4. Select the link to open the file location. Download the files to your computer, or select **Move to** or **Copy to** to move or copy them to your own OneDrive or to a shared library.
 
 > [!NOTE]
-> - You can move or copy up to 500 MB of files and folders at a time.
 > - When you move or copy documents that have version history, only the latest version is moved.
 > - Administrative options for an active user under the OneDrive tab in the Microsoft 365 admin center are currently not supported for multi-geo tenants.