Edit

Share via

Bulk delete users in Microsoft Entra ID

  • Article

Using the admin center in Microsoft Entra ID, part of Microsoft Entra, you can remove a large number of members to a group by using a comma-separated values (CSV) file to bulk delete users.

To bulk delete users

Tip

Steps in this article might vary slightly based on the portal you start from.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a User Administrator.

  2. Select Microsoft Entra ID.

  3. Select Users > All users > Bulk operations > Bulk delete.

    Screenshot of the Users page with the Bulk delete option selected.

  4. On the Bulk delete user page, select Download to download the latest version of the CSV template.

  5. Open the CSV file and add a line for each user you want to delete. The only required value is User principal name. Save the file.

  6. On the Bulk delete user page, under Upload your csv file, browse to the file. When you select the file and click submit, validation of the CSV file starts.

  7. When the file contents are validated, you’ll see File uploaded successfully. If there are errors, you must fix them before you can submit the job.

  8. When your file passes validation, select Submit to start the bulk operation that deletes the users.

  9. When the deletion operation completes, you'll see a notification that the bulk operation succeeded.

If you experience errors, you can download and view the results file on the Bulk operation results page. The file contains the reason for each error. The file submission must match the provided template and include the exact column names. For more information about bulk operations limitations, see Bulk delete service limits.

CSV template structure

The rows in the example downloaded CSV template below are as follows:

  • Version number: The first row containing the version number must be included in the upload CSV.
  • Column headings: User name [userPrincipalName] Required. Older versions of the template might vary.
  • Examples row: We have included in the template an example of an acceptable value. Example: [email protected] You must remove the example row and replace it with your own entries.

Screenshot of the CSV file contains names and IDs of the users to delete.

Additional guidance for the CSV template

  • The first two rows of the template must not be removed or modified, or the template can't be processed.
  • The required columns are listed first.
  • Don't add new columns to the template. Any additional columns you add are ignored and not processed.
  • Download the latest version of the CSV template before making new changes.

Check status

You can see the status of all of your pending bulk requests in the Bulk operation results page.

Screenshot of checking delete status in the Bulk Operations Results page..

Next, you can check to see that the users you deleted exist in the Microsoft Entra organization either in the portal or by using PowerShell.

Verify deleted users

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a User Administrator.
  2. Select Microsoft Entra ID.
  3. Select All users only and verify that the users you deleted are no longer listed.

Verify deleted users with PowerShell

Run the following command:

Get-MgUser -Filter "UserType eq 'Member'"

Verify that the users that you deleted are no longer listed.

Bulk delete service limits

Note

When performing bulk operations, such as import or create, you may encounter a problem if the bulk operation does not complete within the hour. To work around this issue, we recommend splitting the number of records processed per batch. For example, before starting an export you could limit the result set by filtering on a group type or user name to reduce the size of the results. By refining your filters, essentially you are limiting the data returned by the bulk operation. For more information, see Bulk operations service limitations.

Next steps