Learn how to permanently delete a user from your Thinkific account and the data implications of the deletion.
About This Feature
We don't recommend deleting users as this action is permanent and irreversible. If you want to make sure learners cannot log in to your site, you can deactivate them instead: How to Deactivate and Reactivate Users. If you want to make sure don't have access to your products, you can unenroll them: How to Unenroll Students and Process Refunds.
Users can only be deleted by a Site Owner, a Site Admin, or a user with a custom role with the corresponding permission. If a student or a user wants to delete their account, they will need to contact you directly to do so.
If you receive a deletion request, we highly recommend confirming that they want to delete their account and double-checking that they're contacting you from the email on file to prevent any accidental deletions. Deleting a user is permanent and irreversible. You will not be able to restore their account progress/details if it was deleted by accident. Most of the time, deactivating a learner is sufficient to prevent any log ins without losing data.
Before continuing, make sure to review the What Happens When a User is Deleted? section below.
Our support team is unable to restore user information, as the deletion is permanent and irreversible.
What Happens When a User is Deleted?
When a user is deleted from your Thinkific site, their account details such as name, email and password are permanently erased. Other data associated with them across your site will also be permanently deleted.
Thinkific Data
See the table below to see the impact of deletion on specific features:
| Feature | What happens when a user is deleted? |
| Course Reviews | Permanently deleted |
| Quiz & Survey responses | Permanently deleted |
| Assignments | Permanently deleted |
| Course Progress | Permanently deleted |
| Thinkific Certificates | Permanently deleted |
| Accredible Certificates | Still accessible in Accredible |
| Discussion posts | Discussion posts are not deleted but will be attributed to an anonymous user. You will see them as undefined in your course and can always hide the posts if desired. |
| Community posts | An entire post is deleted if it was created by the student (including comments and replies). Individual comments are deleted. |
| Orders | Order records will remain, but will be attributed to an anonymous user. You will see them listed as (deleted) (deleted) in your Orders report. |
| Transactions | Transaction records will remain, but will be attributed to an anonymous user. You will see them listed as (deleted) (deleted) in your Transactions report. |
| Invoices | Draft invoices will be deleted. Open invoices will be voided. Paid invoices will remain, but will be attributed to an anonymous user. You will see them attributed to (deleted) (deleted) in your Invoices table. |
Third-Party Integrations
Deleting a user in Thinkific will not automatically delete them from any third-party integrations. Users will need to be manually deleted from the third-party integrations/apps. Some common integrations/apps to check are:
How to Delete a User
- From your Admin Dashboard, select Users
- Select All Users
- Locate or search for the student you want to delete
- Select the ellipses (3-dot icon) to the right of their contact details
- Select Delete
- Select Delete User
If the student had any active subscriptions, you'll need to manually cancel their subscription in Stripe: How to Cancel a Subscription in Stripe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I delete students in bulk?
Can deleted users sign up for my site again?
Should do I deactivate a user before deleting them?
Can I delete a user with a role?
Related Articles
- Learn more: User Actions: Overview
- Alternative: How to Deactivate and Reactivate Users
- Related: Thinkific Payments: Manage Student Payments