Have not receiv password recovery linke

Question

My ex-director's account is the Atlassian Jira organization admin. When he left the company, all the rights remained with him, and the invoices are still being sent to his account and email address. However, when he left, the company also deactivated his email account.

Now, in order to remove him from the admin role in the Atlassian account, the Security team is trying to access his account via email. Since no one knows the password, they are attempting to log in using the password recovery link.

However, the password recovery email is not being received (because the email account has been closed).

What should we do in this situation?

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

@nilufar seyidova

if the mailbox is reactivated but the reset email still doesn’t arrive, don’t keep clicking “forgot password” over and over. In 99% of cases it’s one of these:

Why the recovery email is not arriving:

Mail security / quarantine
Your gateway (M365 / Google / Proofpoint, etc.) may quarantine or block Atlassian password reset mails.
→ Your mail/security team should run a message trace for Atlassian reset emails at the time you triggered it.

Forwarding / mailbox rules:
If the mailbox was re-created, old forwarding/rules (or org-wide transport rules) can redirect or drop those messages.
→ Check forwarding, inbox rules, transport rules, spam/junk, quarantine.

Wrong account email / alias issue:
Make sure you’re requesting the reset for the exact email stored on the Atlassian account (no alias, no plus-addressing, no different spelling).

SSO / managed account:
If your org enforces SSO, password reset might not be the right path at all. Access must be restored in your IdP / directory (Azure AD/Entra, Okta, etc.).

About the other Org Admin accounts being suspended

Yes, they can often be reactivated but depends on why they’re suspended:

If they’re suspended because your org disabled them (directory / SCIM / user deprovision): re-enable them in the IdP, then let provisioning sync.

If they’re disabled on the Atlassian side (security/policy): only Atlassian Support can re-enable.

The quickest way forward:

Ask your mail/security team for a trace result:

Email exists but quarantined/blocked → release + allow.

Email delivered → rules/forwarding/user mailbox issue.

No email at all → wrong email / SSO / account state → then this becomes a Support ownership/admin recovery case.

nilufar seyidova · Answer

Hello, @Arkadiusz Wroblewski  thanks for your feedback!

Our company has reactivated the email address that the mentioned user originally registered with. We just don’t understand why the recovery link hasn’t arrived.

The other Org admin users’ accounts are suspended. Is it possible to reactivate their accounts? :(

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

Hello @nilufar seyidova

don’t try to “break into” his account. If the mailbox is deactivated, password reset will never work, and it’s the wrong direction anyway.

What you can do:

Check if you already have another Org Admin
Go to admin.atlassian.com and see if anyone else is listed as Organization admin.
If yes, that admin can:

assign a new Billing admin

change billing contact details

remove the ex-director from roles

If he’s truly the last Org/Billing admin
Then this is a support case. Atlassian can help transfer ownership when the admin has left and the email is gone. You’ll need to go through their billing/licensing / account recovery process and prove domain/company ownership.

Typical proof Atlassian asks for:

you control the company domain (domain verification)

you’re authorized to manage the org

subscription / invoice details (org/site name, cloud URL, invoice number)

If your company still owns that email domain: re-enable that mailbox temporarily (or create an alias/forward) just to receive the recovery email. That’s often the quickest internal fix  but it depends on your security policy.

Short version: either another org admin fixes it in admin.atlassian.com, or Atlassian support must transfer admin/billing ownership. Password reset won’t help if the mailbox is dead.