Deleted User Still Visible in SharePoint Manage Access Page

Baojun Guo 46 Reputation points
2025-09-06T04:01:18.1866667+00:00

Hell Team,

So sorry to bother you.

We encountered an issue in SharePoint Online where a deleted user from Azure Active Directory still appears in the "People" list on the file’s Manage Access page. This situation leads to confusion for both end users and administrators, as it seems the deleted account retains access despite permissions being revoked.

Could clarification be provided on the following points:

  1. Is this the expected behavior in SharePoint Online?
  2. If yes, what is the recommended way to remove these "orphaned users" from the Manage Access UI?
  3. Is there a plan or feature request to automatically clean up deleted Azure AD users from SharePoint Online’s Manage Access interface?

Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint Server | Development
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Answer accepted by question author
Austin-H 8,380 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-09-06T11:05:43.7533333+00:00

Hi @Baojun Guo
Thank you for posting question to Microsoft Q&A.

This is expected behavior. When a user or guest first visits a SharePoint site, an entry is created in the site’s hidden User Information List. Deleting the account in Azure AD does not automatically remove this entry, so the name may still show in Manage Access. The user no longer has access because authentication fails, but the cached record remains.
I'd suggest you check on this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/remove-users#remove-people-from-the-userinfo-list

You could use PowerShell to try to remove that "orphaned users" to see if that works - also browse to the site and edit the URL by adding the following string to the end of it: /_layouts/15/people.aspx?MembershipGroupId=0 and look for the user as well.

Currently, Microsoft does not have any actual process to automatically clean up deleted Azure AD users from SharePoint. I also tried to look into this:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/search/06735c62-321c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472?q=Deleted+user+in+SharePoint and saw a lot of feedbacks from there, you could leave a feedback in here as well so Microsoft could consider this in the future.

As I am forum moderator, I do not have access to Microsoft Internal System to check on this - but your feedback will be appreciated and considered in the future. I truly hope that this information is helpful.

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  1. Baojun Guo 46 Reputation points
    2025-09-06T15:41:48.2766667+00:00

    Hello Austin-H,

    Thank you very much for your quick help.

    Thanks,
    Baojun

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