How to Deactivate Users
Remove workspace access for one person or many at once via CSV — for offboarding, restructures, or seasonal workforce changes.
Who can use this feature
Available on all plans (including Free). Requires Super Admin or Update Users admin permissions.
Who this is for
Admins with Super Admin or Edit users permission who need to offboard someone or deactivate many accounts at once — after a restructure, at the end of a contract period, or during routine access cleanup.
What you'll achieve
One or more users set to Deactivated status. They lose sign-in access and stop appearing in colleague searches, but their recognitions, points, and redemption history stay in the workspace.
Before you begin
You have Super Admin or Edit users permission
For CSV upload: a
.csvfile with an email column (template available in the dialog)
Steps
Deactivate one user
Go to Users under Admin settings → Users & Permissions.
Find the person in the table and click Edit on their row.
In the Edit User dialog, set Status to Deactivated.
Click Save.
Access is revoked immediately.
You cannot deactivate the workspace owner or yourself. These rules apply whether you edit one user or upload a CSV.
Deactivate users in bulk (CSV)
When you need to offboard many people at once, upload a CSV of email addresses.
On the Users page, open the toolbar menu (⋯) and choose Deactivate Users (CSV).
Click Download CSV Template — the file has a single email column with example rows.
Add one email address per row (up to 500 rows per file, 5 MB max).
Upload the file and click Deactivate Users.
Review the confirmation prompt — deactivation revokes workspace access — then confirm with Yes, Deactivate Users.
Read the result summary:
Success — how many users were deactivated (includes rows that were already deactivated)
Skipped — emails that could not be processed, with a reason per row
Failed — rows that hit a processing error (uncommon)
The CSV must include an email column header. Duplicate emails in the same file are processed once. Empty rows are ignored.
What to expect after
Deactivated users cannot sign in to the workspace
Do not appear when colleagues search for recipients
Stop receiving celebration posts, notifications, and program invitations
No longer count toward your active-user total — billing quantities sync on the 1st and 15th of each month
Keep their historical recognitions, points, and reward redemptions
To bring someone back, invite them again from the Users page using the normal invite flow. Their account reactivates with existing data intact.
Common mistakes
Some CSV rows are skipped
Each skipped row shows a reason:
not a member of this workspace — the email is not an active or deactivated member here (check spelling, or confirm they were never invited)
cannot deactivate yourself — your own email was in the file
cannot deactivate the workspace owner — the workspace owner's email was in the file
Rows for users who are already deactivated count toward the success total rather than appearing as skipped.
I can't deactivate the workspace owner
This is blocked by design in both single edit and CSV upload. Transfer workspace ownership first, then deactivate the former owner if needed. Contact support if you need help changing the owner.
The Deactivate Users (CSV) option doesn't appear
You need Super Admin or Edit users permission. Check your permission group under Users & Permissions → Permission Groups, or ask a Super Admin to grant access.
CSV validation failed before upload processed
Fix row-level errors (missing email, invalid format, or missing email column) and upload a corrected file. Validation errors list the row number and column so you can fix the spreadsheet quickly.
Pro tips
Pair with bulk invite for seasonal teams. Onboard contractors via CSV at project start and reuse the same email list in a deactivate CSV when the project ends.
Filter by status to verify. After a bulk run, filter the Users table by Deactivated to confirm the right people were affected.