Re-create users with the same accountId

Question

We're using jira cloud in our organization.

When some people left, the users have been deleted. Now all the comments they wrote in the tickets show up as "Former user". We learned later that we should have marked them as "inactive" instead of deleting them, but what's done is done. :-(

Is there a way for us to re-create them with the same {{accountId}} so that their names are back ?

Jan L · Answer

Also see (and vote for) this feature, which would solve the issue for users which have already been deleted and can't be re-created by re-inviting them: Ability to retain user "Name" in JIRA once the account deleted

Flavien Lebarbe · Answer

Thank you very much. We recreated the users and now the names show up again. We then revoked site access so that they do not count as a busy seat with regards to the license. And all is good. :)

Angélica Luz · Answer

Hi Flavien,

Thanks for reaching out to Atlassian Community!

Due to GDPR, to protect users and customers information, when a user is removed from a site, it will keep all their work like tickets, comments, attachments, but it will show as "Former user" instead of their name.

If you invite the user again with the same email address, it will recognize the Atlassian account ID and the "Former user" will be replaced with the user's full name again.

You can find more details about the changes in the documentation below:

* Upcoming changes to Atlassian account profiles

Note that, when an Atlassian account is completely deleted, if recreated again, it will have a new ID and the steps above won't work.

Regards,
Angélica