---
type: howto
---

# Deleting a User account

Users can be deleted from a GitLab instance, either by:

- The user themselves.
- An administrator.

NOTE: **Note:**
Deleting a user will delete all projects in that user namespace.

## As a user

As a user, you can delete your own account by:

1. Clicking on your avatar.
1. Navigating to **Settings > Account**.
1. Selecting **Delete account**.

## As an administrator

As an administrator, you can delete a user account by:

1. Navigating to **Admin Area > Overview > Users**.
1. Selecting a user.
1. Under the **Account** tab, clicking:
   - **Delete user** to delete only the user but maintaining their
     [associated records](#associated-records).
   - **Delete user and contributions** to delete the user and
     their associated records.

## Associated Records

> - Introduced for issues in
>   [GitLab 9.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/7393).
> - Introduced for merge requests, award emoji, notes, and abuse reports in
>   [GitLab 9.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10467).
> - Hard deletion from abuse reports and spam logs was introduced in
>   [GitLab 9.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10273),
>   and from the API in
>   [GitLab 9.3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/11853).

When a user account is deleted, not all associated records are deleted with it.
Here's a list of things that will **not** be deleted:

- Issues that the user created.
- Merge requests that the user created.
- Notes that the user created.
- Abuse reports that the user reported.
- Award emoji that the user created.

Instead of being deleted, these records will be moved to a system-wide
user with the username "Ghost User", whose sole purpose is to act as a container
for such records. Any commits made by a deleted user will still display the
username of the original user.

When a user is deleted from an [abuse report](../../admin_area/abuse_reports.md)
or spam log, these associated
records are not ghosted and will be removed, along with any groups the user
is a sole owner of. Administrators can also request this behavior when
deleting users from the [API](../../../api/users.md#user-deletion) or the
Admin Area.

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