Why can’t I delete a user account?
User accounts aren’t usually deleted — instead, you can deactivate them. This keeps all the work and history linked to that user intact.
For example, if someone has left your organisation but has created content in Ocasta Engage or completed reviews in Ocasta Review, deleting their account could cause problems. You might lose access to their data or content.
By deactivating the account instead, the user won’t be able to log in, but all their past activity will stay safe and visible.
Deactivation is also handy if someone is away temporarily, such as on parental leave. You can reactivate their account as soon as they’re back.
How do I deactivate a user?
In the admin, go to Users in the right-hand side menu.
Search for the user you want to deactivate and open their profile.
Scroll down to the Account management section.
Tick the box to Deactivate user account.
Select Update.
Once deactivated, the user won’t be able to log in to any Ocasta apps or on the web.
How can I see which users are deactivated?
In the admin, go to Users.
Use the filter at the top called Any Deactivated.
Set the value to True.
This will show you all deactivated users on your system. You can also export this list as a CSV file if you need to.
Top tip
On the admin dashboard, you’ll see the five admin accounts that haven’t logged in for the longest time. This makes it easy to spot inactive accounts you might want to deactivate — keeping your system tidy and reducing security risks.
Automatic deactivation with user imports
If your organisation runs regular user imports, you might have a custom setup where anyone not included in the import file is automatically deactivated.
Here’s how it works:
Each user has last_imported metadata showing when they were last imported.
The system also knows the date of the most recent user import.
A custom environment variable, USER_DISABLE_DAYS, is set to define how many days a user can go without being re-imported before being deactivated.
The system compares each user’s last_imported date with the most recent import date. If the last_imported date is older than the most recent import date minus the number of days set in USER_DISABLE_DAYS, the user will be deactivated.
An example
If you want users to be deactivated after 24 hours, set USER_DISABLE_DAYS to 1. That way, any user who hasn’t been re-imported within that timeframe will be automatically deactivated.
Important to know
When USER_DISABLE_DAYS is set to 1, it’s vital that all users are imported on the same day. You can import them daily, weekly, monthly, or even ad hoc — but they must all be imported on the same day. Splitting them across multiple files is fine, as long as the files are all imported together on that day.
Need help?
If you’d like to talk through setting up automatic deactivation or have questions about your current setup, please contact our support team.