For Enterprise only: deactivate members from your org, manage doc transfer requests, and transfer ownership of docs from deactivated members.
Let's say an employee is no longer with your organization and needs to be deactivated from all the Coda workspaces that belong to your organization. This article will walk you through the processes to deactivate (and reactivate) members from your organization, as well as how to transfer ownership of this member’s docs to active members
A few things to note.
First, you’ll need to be an org admin to complete this process (workspace admin is not sufficient).
Second, this article outlines the steps to deactivate users from your organization and transfer their docs to new owners. If you’re trying to permanently remove a user from a specific workspace, follow these steps to offboard the user instead.
You will only be able to deactivate or reactivate users that belong to your organization and owned domains.
Lastly, members in your organization can request ownership of docs that were owned by deactivated users. To view and manage doc transfer requests, jump to the view and manage doc transfer requests section.
📣 This article applies only to customers on our Enterprise tier. If you’re on a Free, Pro, or Team tier, check out this article on workspace offboarding instead.
Within this article, you’ll find...
When to deactivate vs offboard
Deactivate users when they are no longer with your organization. Doing so will deactivate their Coda account and allow you to transfer all their docs to a new owner. Should the user ever be reactivated, Coda will recognize them as the same user as before; they will regain any doc access that they previously had (prior to their deactivation).
Remove and offboard a user from specific workspaces when you want to permanently remove someone from a Coda workspace. For example: You want to permanently remove the contractors or vendors that were added to your workspace after a project is complete.
Deactivate members
If you’re an admin of an Enterprise organization, you can deactivate or reactivate users from your admin settings. Note that workspace admins do not have this ability - only org admins do.
Step 1:
Open your admin settings. To do this, go to coda.io/docs, click on your account name in the lower-left corner, then select Admin settings from the menu.
Step 2:
From here, navigate to the Org member provisioning tab (within the Members section).
Step 3:
You’ll see a list of all the members that use Coda in your organization. By default, the list shows only active org members, but you can use the drop-down at the top of the page to reveal deactivated members when needed.
If you have SCIM enabled: You will see a warning message when you click the Deactivate user button. Since members provisioned via SCIM will be automatically deactivated and reactivated via your IDP, deactivating them via Coda can lead to things being out of sync. Therefore we recommend that you handle deactivation via your IDP instead of in Coda. In that case, you can proceed to the next step to transfer docs owned by the deactivated member.
If you don’t have SCIM enabled: You can search for and select one or more users to deactivate from this page. Click on the Deactivate user button to deactivate the selected users.
Transfer doc ownership
ℹ️ If you choose not to transfer ownership, docs will remain editable for 7 days after the user is deactivated or removed. If doc ownership is not transferred within 7 days, these docs will then become read-only until transferred. Members of your org can still either claim ownership or request ownership (depending on your org settings). Check out the Manage doc transfers section below to learn more.
Now that you’ve followed the steps above to deactivate the org member, you just need to transfer ownership of their docs. This ensures that you don’t lose any important data, and that team docs continue to work without a hitch.
Step 4:
Once you have deactivated a user, use the dropdown at the top of the Org member provisioning page to switch from Active members to Deactivated members. Now you will see any and all deactivated org members. If the user is not in this list, they might not be a part of your organization's registered domains, or they may not have been deactivated through your identity provider via SCIM.
Click on the Transfer docs button next to their name to initiate the transfer of all their docs to a new owner. Alternatively, to view all docs owned by the deactivated user and selectively transfer docs, click on the three horizontal dots (next to the Transfer docs) button, and select Manage docs.
Note: If you don’t have SCIM enabled, you can also reactivate a user by clicking on the ... menu (next to the Transfer docs button) and selecting Reactivate user.
Step 5:
Type the name of soon-to-be new owner of these docs. Then click Transfer Ownership, and all the docs owned by the deactivated user will be transferred to the new owner. You should see Done transferring docs appear next to the user once the transfer is complete.
Note: Only active organization users will appear in the New owner options. If the user is not on this list, they might not be a part of your organization's registered domains.
That’s it! You’ve successfully deactivated the user and transferred their docs to a new owner. This ensures those docs will continue to operate smoothly.
Manage doc transfers
If you choose not to transfer ownership of any docs when deactivating the user (as described in the previous section), these docs will remain editable for 7 days after deactivation. If ownership of these docs is not transferred to an active Doc Maker within 7 days, they will become read-only until transferred. This grace period is designed to reduce workflow disruptions when an individual leaves.
By default, other Doc Makers with access to a doc owned by a deactivated user can request ownership of the doc. These requests are then reviewed and actioned by org admins. However, org admins do also have the option to enable self-serve doc transfers. When self-serve transfers are allowed, any Doc Maker with edit access to the doc can simply claim ownership, without needing to wait for admin approval. Learn more about this option in the Enable self-serve doc transfers section below.
View doc transfer requests
To view doc transfer requests, open your Admin settings, then search for or scroll to the Doc transfers tab.
Here, you will see requests from members of your organization to claim ownership of specific docs that were previously owned by deactivated users. You can approve their doc ownership request or select new owners to transfer the docs to.
You can also see all the individual docs owned by a deactivated member and transfer them to new owners by selecting the deactivated user using the filter at the top right. To transfer individual docs to new owners, select a new owner for each doc and click on the Transfer button.
Enable self-serve doc transfers
If you wish to allow Doc Makers to self-claim docs from deactivated users - without having to wait for admin approval - you can enable self-serve doc transfers for your org. This ensures there is no delay for the team in waiting for approval, and it saves admin time.
To enable self-serve transfers, follow the steps below:
Open your Admin settings
Search for or scroll to the Doc transfers tab
Within the Doc transfer policy for unowned docs section at the top of the page, select the following option: Allow Doc Makers with edit access to claim doc ownership if the doc does not have an active owner
That’s it! Here are a few things to note now that this feature is enabled:
A doc can be claimed both during and after the 7-day grace period.
Ownership will be claimed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Non-Doc Makers cannot self-claim doc ownership and must instead submit a request for admin approval.
Admins can see a record of doc ownership changes in the Audit events section of admin settings, by filtering for ClaimDocOwnership or TransferDocs events. Learn more about audit events here.
FAQs
Who can I transfer docs owned by deactivated members to?
You can transfer all the docs owned by deactivated users to anyone in your organization such as their manager or someone they worked closely with. We recommend sharing this guide with the new doc owner, to help them get oriented in their new doc. Note: To own a doc, members need to be Doc Makers in their workspace.
In addition to that, you can decide at an admin level to allow other doc makers to self-claim or request ownership of specific docs owned by a deactivated member. You can see outstanding doc transfer requests, and approve their requests or transfer the doc to a new owner by following the steps in the Manage doc transfers section above.
Can I transfer a member's docs without deactivating them?
Yes, it is possible for Enterprise org admins to transfer the docs of active org members. You can learn all about it here.
Note that if the member is still active, they can also change ownership of their own docs following the steps described here.
How can I reactivate a deactivated member?
The process for reactivating a member is very similar to deactivating. Check out the Deactivate members section above, and you’ll see some notes within the instructions for how to reactivate members.
What happens when I reactivate a formerly deactivated member?
If you reactivate an org member, Coda will recognize them as a former member. They will automatically be granted access to all the docs they previously had.
When should I deactivate a user versus offboard them from a workspace?
Great question! Check out the section above to understand the differences between these two options.
How can I configure SCIM?
If you’re on Coda’s Enterprise plan, you have the option to enable SCIM for your organization. Here’s an article with all the info you’ll need.