How do I remove an email account for someone who left?

How do I remove someone’s email safely?

1. Block their access. Change the mailbox password, or ask your email provider to, and remove or replace any recovery email address on the mailbox, so a reset can’t go to them. On Microsoft 365, a new password alone doesn’t end sessions that are already signed in, so also choose Block sign-in and Sign out of all sessions for that user, as Microsoft’s former employee guide describes. Then their phone stops collecting mail.
2. Keep their mail. Decide who needs it. Their mail can be kept on the server, given to a manager, or exported. If they used Outlook with POP or kept “On My Computer” folders, some mail may exist only on their computer. Copy that before the computer is wiped.
3. Decide what happens to new mail. Pick one:
   • Forward it to the person taking over. See forward one email address to another.
   • Automatic reply telling senders who to contact now.
   • Shared mailbox (Microsoft 365) so a team reads it. Microsoft says a shared mailbox usually doesn’t need a license.
4. Close the other doors. Change any shared passwords they knew, and remove them from your website, Google profile and other accounts. See add or remove a person’s access to edit our website.
5. Delete the mailbox only when the forward or auto-reply has run long enough and nobody needs the old mail.

Expected result: the person can’t sign in, nothing they received is lost, and mail to their address still reaches someone.

Do the steps in this order. Each one can be undone except the last.

The short version

• Lock the account first: change the password, and on Microsoft 365 also block sign-in and sign out all sessions. Keep the mail.
• Forward the address or set an auto-reply, and delete the mailbox last.

Why does this matter?

A former employee with a working password can still read customer mail, reset other accounts that use that address, or send mail as your business. Deleting the mailbox too early has the opposite problem: senders get bounces, and the history of their jobs is gone.

What are the common mistakes and edge cases?

• Deleting first. It’s the most common regret. On Microsoft 365, Microsoft says that once you delete the user, their email is kept for 30 days and then deleted permanently. On E-3 email, ask us before deleting.
• Removing the account from a phone and calling it done. That only removes it from the phone. The mailbox and password still work everywhere else.
• Switching off the address with no reply. Senders get a bounce and may assume you closed. A short automatic reply is kinder.
• Forgetting the logins tied to that address. Accounts like your domain registrar or social media may use their address for password resets. Move those to a business address you control.
• Local-only mail. SmarterTools notes that POP downloads mail to one device. Check before wiping that device.
• Legal or HR holds. If there’s a dispute, keep everything and ask your adviser before deleting. This isn’t legal advice.

What if this didn’t work?

• They’re still sending from the address. A saved password may still be on a device, or another app may have its own access. Change the password again and tell your email provider.
• You can’t find the admin settings. Only an admin can change another person’s mailbox. Ask whoever runs your email.
• Mail to the old address bounces after a forward. The forward target may be wrong or full. See why emails bounce.

How does E-3 handle this?

On E-3 email (SmarterMail), ask us, and we handle each step. Don’t send the former employee’s password.

Tell us:

1. The address, and the date the person left.
2. Who should get their new mail, or the wording for an automatic reply.
3. Whether you need their old mail kept, and for whom.
4. When you’re happy for the mailbox to be removed.

If they also had website access, say so. See website editor access.

When someone leaves, call 814-399-4655 or email support@e3help.me, or use the Get support form. Don’t include passwords.

Related questions

• How do I get a new email address for a new employee?
• How do I remove someone’s access to edit our website?
• How to share access safely