Deleting users and groups

You can delete users and groups from the document management system. However, it is recommended that you disable user accounts instead of deleting them. You can delete both users and groups from the Web Client and the FDA.

Deleting users

Deleting a user from the system removes any ownership of the deleted user's documents, folders or cabinet ownership. It is recommended to not delete a user if you wish to maintain the account in case the user ever will need access to FileHold again. Instead, you should simply disable a user account. This way the account can be re-enabled in the future.

If you must delete the user account, be sure to consider using the Change Document Owner and Change Cabinet/Folder Owner features in the Library Administration area to give the cabinets, folders, and documents created/owned by this user to a new owner. There is no need to make this change if owner specific permissions are not required for normal system operation. For example, if you do not expect to need to start a worklow on the document and you require owners to start workflows. For document schema and library object membership, our recommended practice is to avoid using specific users as members unless this is unavoidable.

The actual user account is never deleted - the user name is internally represented by an identifier that lives forever. When you see a logged activity for the deleted user, the word deleted will appear with the date. It is possible to have two or more users with the user ID , such as jsmith, in the system at the same time, but only if all but one are deleted.

In FileHold 14.1 and earlier versions, prior to deleting a user, we suggest you change the last name of the user to indicate the user is deleted. This way if a user with the same name is added in the future, there will be no confusion in the document usage log. For example, if you will delete the user John Smith, change the last name to Smith(deleted20130820) before deleting it. The name displayed in the usage log will clearly distinguish between the old and the new John Smith.

FileHold 16.0 and higher versions

Delete a user through the Mass edit feature. 

FileHold 15.2.1 and lower versions

To delete a user account

1. Go to Administration Panel > System Management > User Management > Users and select the check box for user account you want to delete. You can use the Search feature to find a user.

2. Click Delete.

• In FDA, click the Delete icon .

3. You will receive a warning message that you are about to delete a user and it will specifically warn that "All previous associations with documents added by this user shall be lost and are not recoverable"

• This message simply means that the user account and its associations cannot be recovered if you delete the account, and the Cabinets, Folders, and Documents created by this user will no longer have an owner, as the user has been permanently deleted.

• Deleting a user does not delete the Cabinets, Folders, and Documents - it removes the user's ownership of those items.

  • If you wish to maintain these ownership associations, then simply disable the account.

• Click OK to delete the user. The user account is removed from the list of FileHold users, and there is no way to recover this account.

  • Then you will need to change ownership using the Change Document Owner and Change Cabinet/Folder Owner features in the Library Administration area to give the cabinets, folders, and documents created/owned by this user to a new owner.

Deleting groups

Deleting a group will delete the group from all cabinet, folder, and document schema memberships. This action cannot be undone.

To delete a group

1. Go to Administration  User Management > Groups and click the arrow next to the group name.

2. Click Delete.

• In FDA, right-click on the group name and select Delete.

3. You will receive a warning message about deleting the group. Click OK to delete the group.