Deactivating a user prevents the user from logging in to any applications that use the Crowd framework and also excludes the user from the license count. You would typically do this when a user leaves your organization.

Deleting a user removes the user completely from the relevant directory.

Deactivating instead of Deleting

We recommend that you deactivate a user rather than delete them, in case some applications contain historical data, such as documents that the user has created. Read more.

For Microsoft Active Directory servers, LDAP Connector Directories and Delegated Authentication Directories will synchronize the status of users with the remote server, if the Synchronize User Details option has been enabled. In other words, if a user account is disabled in Active Directory, it will be deactivated in Crowd on the next synchronization. Likewise, if a user is deactivated through Crowd, the user account will be disabled in Active Directory. If you want to prevent this synchronization, enable the Manage User Status Locally option in the directory configuration.

To deactivate a user:

1. Log in to the Crowd Administration Console.
2. In the top navigation bar, click Users.
3. Select the relevant directory, search for the user you wish to deactivate, and click the user's name.
   The User Details screen appears.
4. Deselect the Active' checkbox. 
5. Click Update.

The user will now be unable to log in to any applications that use the Crowd framework.

To delete a user:

1. Log in to the Crowd Administration Console.
2. In the top navigation bar, click Users.Select the relevant directory, search for the user you wish to deactivate, and click the user's name.
   The User Details screen appears.
3. In the left-hand menu, click Remove User.
4. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

The user will be removed from the relevant directory and will no longer appear in the User Browser.