Yes — before deactivating a user, it’s important to sort their record ownership and adjust system settings to ensure smooth handover and prevent data gaps.
📁 What happens when a user is deactivated?
Lead and Customer records will automatically have their Owner set to Unassigned.
Other records (e.g., Tasks, Opportunities, Sales Orders) will retain the user as Owner until they are manually reassigned.
✅ How to reassign records before deactivation
To simplify this process, we recommend using Work Stacks:
Go to each relevant record type (e.g., Customers, Tasks, Opportunities).
Create a Work Stack filtered by the Owner (the user you’re deactivating).
Use the bulk action menu to Reassign, Reassign Owner, or Update Owner depending on the record type.
🔗 Learn how to reassign opportunities using Work Stacks
(This method also works for Leads, Customers, Tasks, Quotes, and Sales Orders.)
📄Can I re-allocate/reassign the user's records in bulk via a spreadsheet? (permission-based)
Yes! If you need to transfer multiple records at once and have the necessary permissions, you can also do this using a spreadsheet.
Export a populated customer file from the Data Manager.
Filter the "Owner" column to display records assigned to the specific user you’re deactivating.
Update the "Owner" field to the name of the user to whom you want to reassign these records.
Remove any records and columns you’re not updating, keep only the "Owner" column and all mandatory columns.
Save & close the file, ensuring it’s in the correct format.
Import the file back into the system as a Customer Upsert to apply the changes.
🙋♀️Curious about Data Manager?
We've got you covered with this article: How to use Data Manager.
Final essential checks before deactivating/disabling a user
To ensure a smooth deactivation, follow these best practices and update the necessary settings.
System Tab 🔧
Make sure the following settings are unticked:
▶️ Active
▶️ View Only My Records
▶️ API Login Allowed
▶️ Default Case Watcher
Memberships 🏢
Department Memberships: Untick all departments.
Shared Calendar Department: Set to "--Please select a business unit--"
Shared Calendar Mode: Set to "Hide All"
Default Browsing Group (Widget): Set to "--No Group--"
Custom Report Access Group: Set to "--No Group--"
Contact Preferences (Communication Tab)
Notification Schemes: Ensure all are unticked.
Other Settings
Signature, Telephony, and Information: No changes are needed unless an * Asterisk phone system is in use.
Final Cleanup 🧽
To prevent unnecessary notifications and access, check these settings:
▶️ Digests: Remove any feed subscriptions.
▶️ Subscriptions: Ensure no scheduled subscriptions remain.
Showing Inactive Users in Leaderboard Widgets
By default, inactive users won’t appear in most leaderboard widgets like Quotations and Sales Orders.
However, you can include them temporarily to maintain historical data:
Admins can enable “Include inactive user in leaderboard widgets” via Settings → Users → [User] → System tab.
Note:
Inactive users will be labelled as such in widgets.
Some widgets only show users with activity (e.g., Completed Sales Orders).
Others show all users regardless of activity (e.g., Won Quotations).
This setting does not apply to dynamic (report-based) widgets.
Need Help?
Having trouble with any of the steps above, or can’t access Settings?
Speak to your Layer Administrator, or contact Support — we’re here to help you make the most of The Layer! 🙂