My client was wondering if data would be deleted if an account (that created the records) would be deleted. I’m quite sure that the data would not be deleted (of course not!). Right?
But what happens to fields like Created by? Also, I have a table Employees that hold the column User Account. What would be in those records when the employee leaves the company and the account is deleted?
I can confirm that it’s no issue when you are simply removing access for an account that should no longer have access to that Org’s tape data.
Pretend I had a previous employee named Dan who quite so I wanted to remove their access across my entire Tape org.
If Carson were to remove Dan from the org (or even single workspaces) that user can be removed with no impact to the database.
If Dan had created 100 records in that space while he was an active employee, I would still be able to see ‘Created by Dan’ on those records, and even sort/filter for that metric.
I can not personally confirm what exactly happens if Dan were to take steps to completely delete his user account. Not sure I’ve ever tested or come across that exact scenario yet.
Like you @Erik_Mathlener I would assume that there is meta-data in place to maintain the necessary info for the ongoing use of that Tape Org even if Dan were to take steps to completely delete his account.
As I look into this deeper, I actually don’t think there is a setting or option to fully delete a personal account as a personal user. Digging into various settings, the only Danger Zone option to delete is deleting an entire organization, which is only available to organization admins. I see no delete account option anywhere in the personal account settings.
I never looked to see if it is possible to actually delete a user. Good point!
Reading your post, I too assume that the meta-data will be there forever, even when a user is removed from an organisation. That would make sense.
And when a user account can not be deleted at all, the meta-data will sit there forever.
@Leo, can you confirm this?
Hi @Erik_Mathlener, hi @CarsonRedCliffLabs,
First of all, thank you, Carson, for jumping in and explaining the basics 
@Erik_Mathlener , yes, removing or deactivating a member leaves the records they created intact. Existing references, including “Created by” and the user linked in your Employees table, are preserved when their access is removed.
We follow the common approach used by major business platforms, where removing access and deleting organisational data are separate processes. With customers in more than 50 countries, we also need to account for privacy and retention requirements that vary by country and type of information. Automatically deleting everything associated with a former employee could remove business records or history that the organisation still needs and may be legally required to retain.
However, I would clarify the “forever” part: personal data still needs a lawful basis for retention and remains subject to the GDPR and other applicable privacy laws. As you noticed, members currently cannot delete their organisational account themselves. They can still request erasure of their personal data, which we handle separately in coordination with the organisation and in line with applicable law.
If a customer wants to delete an entire organisation, an organisation owner can initiate this in Organisation Settings. We then delete its data according to our data processing agreement and deletion procedures, including the applicable backup deletion periods and any specific legal retention obligations.
We coordinate these processes with our data protection advisers and review them through our compliance controls and audits.
I hope this helps clarify how it works, and thank you both for raising the question!
Best,
Leo