In fast-growing companies, outdated, duplicate or inactive user accounts quickly accumulate in the Atlassian Cloud. This affects not only test users or former employees, but also service accounts, temporary external parties or incompletely migrated accounts.
These can:
- incur licence costs
- pose security risks through forgotten access credentials
- complicate administration, especially during audits or reorganisations
Especially after migrations, reorganisations or in test environments, it makes sense to deliberately remove unused accounts. In this article, you will learn how to efficiently and controllably delete multiple users from your Atlassian Cloud.
Typical use cases
This guide assumes that your instance includes Jira Cloud and is particularly suitable for:
- After a tested user migration, where the environment needs to be prepared for another run.
- Following a corporate merger or a systematic cleanup, where outdated accounts are to be removed.
Important note: If your users and groups are managed via Atlassian Guard with SCIM provisioning, this guide will not work. These accounts will simply be re-synchronised when your IdP is next updated.
Instead, contact your identity provider's administrator to manage SCIM-provisioned users directly through their IdP.
Step-by-step guide: Removing multiple users from Atlassian Cloud
Step 1: Check User Management Setup
- Go to admin.atlassian.com
- Select the appropriate organisation
- Navigate to the user overview
- If you are a Site Admin via Product site
- If you are an Organisation Admin via Directory
Step 2: Prepare user data
- Go to admin.atlassian.com and select your organisation.
- Depending on your setup:
- Original view: Select the site name/URL and then go to Users.
- Centralised view: Go to Directory > Users.
- Now export the user list:
- Original view: Click Export users.
- Centralised view: Click the menu at the top and select Export users.
- Choose which users you want to include:
- All users - All users (active, suspended and deactivated) are included.
- Specific groups - Includes only users in selected groups.
- Optional, but helpful:
- Group membership - Shows which groups each user belongs to.
- Product access - Shows which products and roles each user has.
- Click Export users. You will receive an email when the CSV file is ready. Check your spam folder if it takes a while.
- Open the email and download the file (you may be asked to sign in first).
Step 3: Cleaning the data
Open the CSV file in Excel, Google Sheets or a text editor and:
- Remove all users you do not want to delete, e.g. organisation administrators.
- Remove your own line to avoid accidental lockout
- Keep the User id column - it is important for the deletion process.
Save the cleaned CSV file. Once it is ready and you send it to us, we will take care of the rest.
This is how you export the user list in your Atlassian Cloud as a CSV file for user cleanup.
The benefits of user cleanup at a glance
A cleaned user list offers numerous benefits – from an IT as well as an economic and security perspective:
- Reduce license costs: Only active users need a license – this saves real money
- Minimize security risks: Old or forgotten accounts can represent potential attack surfaces
- Better overview for IT admins: Fewer users mean less complexity regarding roles, groups and permissions
- Simplify compliance: Clear data situation during audits or external reviews
- Improve end user experience: Fewer name conflicts, duplicates or outdated data
- Faster onboarding: New employees can be assigned to groups and projects more precisely
Conclusion: Lean user lists = Secure & efficient Atlassian Cloud
The more users are created in your system, the more complex and risky the administration becomes. With a well-thought-out cleanup strategy, you create:
- Transparency and control
- Cost savings through license optimization
- Security in the sense of Zero Trust and access restriction
- Maintainability for admins and IT teams
Those who actively maintain their Atlassian Cloud will have fewer problems in the long run, more control – and save money in the process.
For the technically inclined:
Do you want to dive deeper or use APIs yourself? These Atlassian guides explain how to work with Postman and REST endpoints:
Delete groups from Atlassian Cloud
Bulk disable users from Atlassian Cloud
We support you in the implementation and assist with
- User cleanup
- Automation with REST API
- License management & reporting
