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---
stage: Govern
group: Authentication
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---
# Deleting a user account **(FREE ALL)**
Users can be deleted from a GitLab instance, either by:
- The user themselves.
- An administrator.
NOTE:
Deleting a user deletes all projects in that user namespace.
## Delete your own account
> Delay between a user deleting their own account and deletion of the user record introduced in GitLab 16.0 [with a flag](../../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `delay_delete_own_user`. Enabled by default on GitLab.com.
FLAG:
On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available, an administrator can [enable the feature flag](../../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `delay_delete_own_user`. On GitLab.com, this feature is available.
As a user, to delete your own account:
1. On the left sidebar, select your avatar.
1. Select **Edit profile**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Account**.
1. Select **Delete account**.
NOTE:
On GitLab.com, there is a seven day delay between a user deleting their own account and deletion of the user record. During this time, that user is [blocked](../../../administration/moderate_users.md#block-a-user) and a new account with the same email address or username cannot be created. Unblocking the account does not undo the deletion because the account will still be in the deletion queue, and will be deleted. Accounts with no issues, comments, notes, merge requests, or snippets are deleted immediately. Accounts under paid namespaces are deleted immediately.
## Delete users and user contributions **(FREE SELF)**
As an administrator, to delete a user account:
1. On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select **Admin Area**.
1. Select **Overview > Users**.
1. Select a user.
1. Under the **Account** tab, select:
- **Delete user** to delete only the user but maintain their [associated records](#associated-records). You can't use this option if
the selected user is the sole owner of any groups.
- **Delete user and contributions** to delete the user and their associated records. This option also removes all groups (and
projects within these groups) where the user is the sole direct Owner of a group. Inherited ownership doesn't apply.
WARNING:
Using the **Delete user and contributions** option may result in removing more data than intended. See
[associated records](#associated-records) for additional details.
### Associated records
When deleting users, you can either:
- Delete just the user, but move contributions to a system-wide "Ghost User":
- The `@ghost` acts as a container for all deleted users' contributions.
- The user's profile and personal projects are deleted, instead of moved to the Ghost User.
- Delete the user and their contributions, including:
- Abuse reports.
- Emoji reactions.
- Groups of which the user is the only user with the Owner role.
- Personal access tokens.
- Epics.
- Issues.
- Merge requests.
- Snippets.
- [Notes and comments](../../../api/notes.md)
on other users' [commits](../../project/repository/index.md#commit-changes-to-a-repository),
[epics](../../group/epics/index.md),
[issues](../../project/issues/index.md),
[merge requests](../../project/merge_requests/index.md)
and [snippets](../../snippets.md).
In both cases, commits retain [user information](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Git-Objects#_git_commit_objects)
and therefore data integrity within a [Git repository](../../project/repository/index.md).
An alternative to deleting is [blocking a user](../../../administration/moderate_users.md#block-a-user).
When a user is deleted from an [abuse report](../../../administration/review_abuse_reports.md) or spam log, these associated
records are always removed.
The deleting associated records option can be requested in the [API](../../../api/users.md#user-deletion) as well as
the Admin Area.
## Troubleshooting
### Deleting a user results in a PostgreSQL null value error
There is [a known issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/349411) that results
in users not being deleted, and the following error generated:
```plaintext
ERROR: null value in column "user_id" violates not-null constraint
```
The error can be found in the [PostgreSQL log](../../../administration/logs/index.md#postgresql-logs) and
in the **Retries** section of the [background jobs view](../../../administration/admin_area.md#background-jobs) in the Admin Area.
If the user being deleted used the [iterations](../../group/iterations/index.md) feature, such
as adding an issue to an iteration, you must use
[the workaround documented in the issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/349411#workaround)
to delete the user.
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