What's the difference between an inactive user and a suspended user?

[Randy O_Neal]

Hi.  Managing users and I've discovered there are inactive users and there are suspended users, in addition to the active users.  I've discovered that I can suspend users and I can remove users, but I don't see how to mark a user inactive.

What I'd really like to know is what is different between an inactive and a suspended user, and is there some way for me to mark a user inactive?  Is there a benefit to having truly inactive users marked Inactive versus Suspended?  Ultimately - once I'm convinced they are gone for good - I will remove them... but I'm trying to take a measured approach to user management, and I don't think I know enough about the states and how they are reached.  Can anyone shed any light on this subject, or point me to some documentation?  Many thanks in advance...

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hey Randy,

I suspect they mean the same thing, no matter which term you are actually seeing. It basically means the user does not have access to the Site and it not considered active for billing purposes. 

[Jose Luis Gaitan · Accepted solution]

Hello, @Randy O_Neal . 

You have to remove a user if you don't want them to appear on your site. Removing a user from one site, doesn’t remove them from your organization or other sites you manage. If you want to do it, you need to deactivate that user.

I enclose some links with more information about it:

https://support.atlassian.com/user-management/docs/deactivate-a-managed-account/

https://support.atlassian.com/user-management/docs/remove-or-suspend-a-user/

I hope this can be useful for you.

[Johnny Hermann]

One reason not to fully delete suspended/deactivated users is the historical record of that user's account within the tools, e.g., assignment to issues, @mentions, issue history, etc.