Removing licensing from users. If I don't have anyone to transfer licenses to, what happens?

mbsamuel6

We are limiting the number of licenses that we can make available for requestors because we have more requests then we have available.

What I've been doing is seeing which licensed user hasn't logged into smartsheet in a long time, say six months and remove their license.

My question is, if I were to remove their license from a user and not transfer any of the items they previously owned to anyone, what happens to those smartsheet items?

Are they auto deleted? If the previous owner decided they needed to get back into those items would they be able to if I were to give them back a license?

Genevieve P.

Hi @mbsamuel6

When a license is removed from a user, they are no longer able to Own any sheets or items. The items they previously owned are moved into the Deleted folder for 30 days before being fully removed.

This means that if you grant the license back in less than 30 days, they can recover deleted items (see: Recover a deleted sheet). However if it has been more than 30 days, those items are no longer able to be retrieved.

This said, we are coming out with a new release very soon that should help with exactly this scenario, depending on what plan type you are on. We should have a release THIS MONTH that enables a plan level ownership of assets, versus individual ownership, meaning those items would stay with the plan. Here's more information:

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2483118-asset-ownership-updates

I would suggest subscribing to our Release Notes page to ensure you get a notification when this update has been released for your plan.

Cheers,

Genevieve

firestorm

Hello Genevieve, I saw the new Plan Asset Admin role. Can you tell me how this role helps in the circumstance when we can remove licenses from users without transferring their assets to another licensed user?

Genevieve P.

Hi @firestorm

If the Owner of the sheet/item is deactivated and no other user has Admin permissions, then an access request for that sheet goes directly to the Plan Asset Admin.

The Plan Asset Admin can grant access to themselves, if there are no Owner or Admins on the sheet. Here's more information: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2483118-asset-ownership-overview#toc-plan-asset-admins

firestorm

Hello @Genevieve P.

Thanks for the clarification. In this case, can I confirm that if I remove a user's license, whatever he or she owns will no longer have an "owner" but the assets will remain useable by shared users? Only when an access request is required will the Plan Asset Admin get the request (assuming there is no "Admin").

How can I assign a new owner to the assets?

Genevieve P.

Hi @firestorm

Yes, that's correct.

To assign a new owner, select who that person is at the time of removing the current owner by transferring their owned items - see the section in this Help Article: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2478851-remove-someone-from-an-account#toc-to-transfer-owner-permissions-of-items-and-groups

Remove user

Removing a user (previously called Delete user) permanently takes them off of your plan and revokes their access to shared items. However, you can also decide to maintain the user's access rights. Removed users can't access your plan, and their licenses are released.

When removing a user, ensure you transfer the user's Owner permissions on Smartsheet items to another user.

You can also transfer owned items at any time before the removal, see here.

This announcement post and the first comment below it has detailed information about the first phase released of Plan Asset Ownership: Changes to asset Admin permissions and new Plan Asset Admin role, now generally available!

I would recommend adding your questions and comments to that thread in order to provide feedback on this new release.

Cheers,
Genevieve