What should be preserved before an account is deleted?¶

Before an account is deleted, preserve the account identity, current state, linked data and provider records that may become unavailable.

Avoid this assumption: Deletion can be reversed later or that the provider will retain everything behind the account. Deletion may remove content, settings, recovery routes, sessions, sharing relationships and user-visible history.

Record the service, account ID, username, email address, phone number, tenant, profile URL and current account status.

Capture active sessions, linked devices, recovery details, security alerts, administrator roles, subscriptions and connected applications.

Preserve relevant messages, files, folders, transaction references, group memberships, sharing settings and visible deleted-items information.

Record any provider warning explaining what deletion will remove, retain or delay.

Do not confirm deletion merely to test the process.

Consider whether native export, provider preservation, organisational records or specialist acquisition should occur first.

Where deletion is required for safeguarding, employment, policy or system security, use the least destructive effective sequence and record why the action cannot wait.

Record who authorised deletion, who performed it, the exact time and every confirmation or reference number.

Capture the account state immediately before and after the action.

Do not assume that deleting the account removes access through linked services or copied data elsewhere.

Keep the preservation decision separate from any later conclusion about who used or controlled the account.

Record whether deletion is immediate, delayed, recoverable or subject to a stated grace period.

Operational takeaway¶

Preserve account identifiers, sessions, linked data, warnings and provider records before deletion, because access and context may be permanently lost once the process begins.