How to reactivate a user
Reactivating restores access for someone who was deactivated. Nothing was lost while they were away.
When to use this
- A colleague returns from extended leave
- A former employee rejoins
- Someone was deactivated by mistake
Requirements
- Available on: All plans
- Roles: Owner only
You need an available seat on your plan. See the user limits at Plan and usage.
Steps
- Go to Dashboard → Users.
- Find the deactivated user.
- Choose Reactivate.
- Confirm their role — check it is still the right one for what they will be doing now.
What happens next
Access is restored immediately, on their next request.
Their history is exactly as they left it. Deactivation never removed anything, so their past work, assignments, and attribution are all still there.
Their Person record is unchanged, along with its assignment and custody history.
A seat is consumed on your plan's user limit.
After reactivating
- Review their role. Someone returning to a different job may need a different role.
- Reassign assets if their responsibilities changed while they were away.
- Check their notification preferences are still what they want.
Reactivate rather than re-invite
If the person already exists as a deactivated user, reactivate them. Sending a fresh invitation to the same email will not work — email is unique platform-wide — and creating a second record splits their history.
Common mistakes
Re-inviting instead of reactivating. Email is unique across the whole platform, so this does not work as expected.
Not reviewing the role on return. Roles are restored as they were, which may no longer be appropriate.
Reactivating without a free seat. You will need to deactivate someone else or upgrade first.
Troubleshooting
I can't reactivate anyone. Reactivation is Owner-only.
"User limit reached." You are at your plan's limit. Deactivate someone who has left, or upgrade. See Why can't I create more users?.
They can't sign in after reactivation. If they signed in with a password and have forgotten it, they should use the password reset link. If they use Google or Microsoft, they sign in through that provider as before.
I can't find the deactivated user. Check whether the user list is filtered to active users only.
Their Person record is archived. Reactivating the user account does not unarchive the Person. Unarchive it at Dashboard → People so they can receive assignments again.
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