What happens when I delete a user using the Asana API?

[Kaneel_Dias1]

Hello everyone!

We are using the Asana API to offboard inactive users from our Asana workspace. https://developers.asana.com/reference/removeuserforworkspace

In this case what happens to the resources assigned/owned by this user?

• Projects
• Tasks
• Rules
• Templates
• Bundles

Also, let’s say this user is the sole owner/admin of a project? What happens to this project when the user is removed? Does ownership/admin rights get assigned to a different user?

Thank you in advance for your help

[lpb]

Welcome, @Kaneel_Dias1,

My Forum Leader post, and the links within, may provide some answers, though it’s from the standpoint of what to do before you deprovision:

Remove/Offboard/Deprovision (or Pause) a User from an Organization, and what to do beforehand

Update 2025 06 18 thanks to @Nao_Kumazaki: When a user is deleted (deprovisioned) from the Admin Console, all tasks assigned to that user are collected into a project and assigned to the Organization Admin.* If this project is assigned to a Super Admin, the Super Admin will automatically have access to all tasks within the project.* If this project is assigned to a (regular) administrator, the administrator will only see tasks that they have access to. Before you remove a user from your …

Thanks,

Larry

[Phil_Seeman]

I haven’t tested this myself, but I’d strongly bet that the behavior when doing this via the API will match what happens when you do it in the UI.

[Kaneel_Dias1]

Hi @lpb ! Thank you for the welcome <3

We’ve tested this behaviour with tasks belonging to a project, and they seem to stay as they are (but the assignee is removed). Was the behaviour you described only applicable to personal tasks (those not belonging to a project)?

In addition, do you know what would be the behaviour for rules, bundles, and templates?

[lpb]

Sorry, @Kaneel_Dias1, I don’t have much information beyond what I’d already included or linked to. You might have to set up tests to get a final answer, or try Support.

Thanks,

Larry

[Developer_Support]

Hi @Kaneel_Dias1 and welcome to the Forum!

Many thanks @lpb and @Phil_Seeman !

I did some research and found a few resources that should help. First off, I’d recommend checking out the User deprovisioning and Provisioning and deprovisioning users with SCIM articles in our Help Center. It explains how SCIM deprovisioning works — which is very similar to the endpoint you’re using. The only key difference is:

• If you use a Service Account Token (SAT), the behavior matches SCIM exactly.
• If you use a Personal Access Token (PAT), the PAT owner becomes the fallback recipient of permissions instead of the user specified in the Admin Console.

Here’s what happens across different resource types:

• Projects → The user is removed/hidden. If they were the only admin of a private_to_members project, permissions need to be reassigned manually to keep access.
• Tasks → A project called Previously assigned tasks is created, with the PAT owner set as admin.
• Rules, Templates, Bundles → Ownership is transferred to the PAT owner (or the user specified in the Admin Console if using SCIM/SAT).

Note: If you’re using SCIM or SAT and don’t specify Member Removal Settings in the Admin Console, permissions default to all Super Admins. I’m not 100% sure which Super Admin would be selected for Rules, Templates, and Bundles specifically, so this is one edge case worth keeping in mind.

Hope this helps clarify things!

Best,
Dominik

[lpb]

Thanks so much, @Developer_Support. I just linked to your helpful post in my Remove/Offboard/Deprovision (or Pause) a User from an Organization, and what to do beforehand.