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When a staff member leaves: Microsoft 365

Angus
Updated

When a staff member leaves, stop their access to your business email and files. Then decide what happens to their mailbox and their licence. You can do most of the steps yourself in the IT Solver dashboard.

Before you start

  • You must be an Owner or IT manager of your business in the dashboard.
  • Your Microsoft 365 must be connected to the dashboard. If the dashboard asks you to connect Microsoft or finish Microsoft setup, do those steps first.
  • If the actions menu does not show Secure account, Manage permissions, Forward email or Delete user, your Microsoft 365 is managed under another account. Contact IT Solver.
  • Decide if you must keep the person's email. If you delete the user, Microsoft deletes the mailbox. To keep the email, read Keep the email as a shared mailbox before you delete anything.

Find the person

  1. Sign in at dashboard.itsolver.net.
  2. In the sidebar, select Microsoft 365.
  3. Select People.
  4. Find the person in the list.
  5. Select the actions button (three dots) at the end of their row.

All the actions in this article start from that menu.

Stop their access

Do this on the person's last day. If the person left on bad terms, do it immediately.

  1. In the actions menu, select Secure account.
  2. Make sure Someone else may have access is selected.
  3. Keep Sign out of every device and app selected. This signs the person out of Outlook, Teams and OneDrive on all their devices.
  4. Keep Remove sign-in methods (MFA) selected. This removes their Authenticator app, phone numbers and other sign-in methods from the account.
  5. Select Also block sign-in. Nobody can then use the account until you select Allow sign-in.
  6. Select Reset and secure account.
  7. The dashboard shows the new password. Copy it now and keep it in a safe place, for example your password manager.
  8. Read the Steps list. If a step failed, do that action again from the actions menu.

Microsoft can take a few minutes to sign the person out of all apps.

Block sign-in only

If the person leaves on good terms and you do not want to change the password yet, select Block sign-in in the actions menu. A message asks you to confirm. Select OK. The password does not change. Anyone who is already signed in can keep access for up to an hour. To force them out now, use Secure account instead.

To let the account sign in again, select Allow sign-in. A message asks you to confirm. Select OK.

Give another person access to the mailbox

  1. In the actions menu, select Manage permissions.
  2. Select Add permissions.
  3. In Delegate, select the person who takes over the email.
  4. Keep Read and manage selected. That person can then open the mailbox and read its email.
  5. If the person must also send email from the old address, select Send as.
  6. Select Add.

Microsoft 365 permission changes can take up to 60 minutes.

Forward new email to another person

  1. In the actions menu, select Forward email.
  2. In Send email to, type the address that must get the email.
  3. To keep the email in the old mailbox too, keep Keep a copy in this mailbox selected.
  4. Select Save.

If the address is outside your organisation, the dashboard shows a warning. Read it, then select I understand email will leave our organisation. To stop forwarding later, select Stop forwarding, then select OK to confirm. If the page says that IT Solver manages forwarding for this mailbox, contact IT Solver to change it. For more about forwarding, read Forward email and add email aliases in Microsoft 365.

Give the account to a new staff member

If a new person takes over the role and must use the same mailbox, files and licence, rename the account instead of deleting it. Read Rename a Microsoft 365 user or hand their account to someone else.

Keep the email as a shared mailbox

A shared mailbox keeps all the person's email and does not need its own user licence. To change a leaver's mailbox to a shared mailbox, ask IT Solver. Tell us who must get access. We do these steps for you:

  • We change the mailbox to a shared mailbox. No email is deleted.
  • We rename it, for example to the person's name followed by (Shared).
  • We give access to the person you choose. We can also send new email to that person.
  • We turn on an automatic reply for people inside and outside your organisation.
  • We block sign-in and sign the person out of all devices.
  • We remove the user licences. If you ask, we also reduce the number of licences you pay for from the next renewal. If the mailbox is over 50 GB, has an archive or is on hold, the licence that gives it Exchange stays.

The user account is kept, not deleted. Do not select Delete user for a mailbox that you want to keep. For more about shared mailboxes, read Create a shared mailbox and give people access.

Delete the user

Delete the user only when you do not need their email, OneDrive files or calendar. When you delete the user, forwarding and mailbox access for other people also stop. To keep them, ask IT Solver to keep the email as a shared mailbox instead.

  1. In the actions menu, select Delete user.
  2. Read the warning. Microsoft normally keeps the account and related data in Deleted users for up to 30 days. Calendar items are removed immediately and cannot be restored.
  3. In Type the exact email address, type the person's email address.
  4. Select Delete user.
  5. Open Notifications to see the progress and the result. You can leave the page after the delete starts.

If the menu shows Delete in local directory (greyed out), the account is managed from your own local directory server. You cannot delete it from the dashboard. Contact IT Solver.

Stop paying for the licence

An Owner, IT manager or Billing only user can do this step.

When you delete a user or remove their licence, your bill does not change. The licence becomes free, and you can give it to another person. To stop paying for it, pay for fewer licences from the next renewal. Read Buy, assign and reduce Microsoft 365 licences.

The Delete user dialog also shows a link for each paid licence the person has. The link opens the change to pay for fewer licences from the next renewal.

Examples

A staff member resigned and leaves on Friday

A sales person leaves on good terms. Their manager must read their customer email for a few months.

To fix it: on Friday afternoon, do the steps in Stop their access. Then ask IT Solver to keep the email as a shared mailbox, and name the manager.

A staff member was dismissed and still has the company phone

You think the person can still read company email on a phone or a home computer.

To fix it: immediately do the steps in Stop their access, with Also block sign-in selected. Do not use Block sign-in alone, because a device that is already signed in can keep access for up to an hour. Then open Forward email and select Stop forwarding if forwarding is on. Ask IT Solver to check the mailbox for inbox rules that the person added.

A new office manager replaces the old one

The new person starts next week. Customers and suppliers already send email to the old person's address.

To fix it: do not delete the account. Do the steps in Rename a Microsoft 365 user or hand their account to someone else.

A casual worker left and nobody needs their email

The person used email only for rosters. Nobody needs their email or files.

To fix it: do the steps in Delete the user. Then keep the licence for the next person you hire, or pay for fewer licences from the next renewal.

Still have a problem?

Include the person's email address, their last day, and who must get access to their email.

Questions? Email support@itsolver.net or phone 07 3123 6000.

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