Deleted Users' Task Assignments should remain Visible in Filters, Reports, Exports
Use Case:
I'm trying to find tasks assigned to people who no longer work here, and found this statement in your help:"If the user was assigned to tasks, you can no longer filter by them as an assignee*. "
so.... there needs to be a way to search for or report on ghost-assigned tasks.
I know I have many, as they crop up on occasion, but now I can't find them!
I NOW know that you recommend re-assigning tasks before deleting users, but too late.
As discussed here:
account managers have a difficult time managing both paid seats AND departing user assignments...
We are financially motivated to "delete" users right away and yet doing so disrupts the management and reliability of the data.
Clearly, we aren't the only account-owner to ever have made this mistake ... so I'd like to open an enhancement request for a report of this nature.
I would be fine with a filter, report, export... anything that keeps the assignments intact for Deleted Users.
Ideally, it would be a filtering choice that gives me a live list (versus an export) that I can mass-edit, although often it's more of a slow, deliberate process of deciding who now gets the task assignment, so I'd prefer to have more options than only the 'sledge hammer' of Mass Reassignment.
Also, easy change:
There is text next to the "Delete User" button, but it doesn't warn of THIS particular danger. Seems like the logical place for it!
Lastly, as an Admin, I should also be able to view a list of Deleted Users in User Management Tools.
all great points! Especially when you have templates that you will be using to create large projects and some of the tasks need to be reassigned. It would be easy if I only had one Project going at a time, but with multiple, it takes too long to re-do the template.
We are in a similar situation where we need to have the user seat for someone else, before knowing who will be taking on the work.
And indeed, I just discovered that you can no longer see these tasks assigned to deleted users under "unassigned tasks" either. I have approx 30 tasks created that I would like to reassign to a single person, and unfortunately there's no way of filtering them out and mass editing.
This is the reason why I never delete a user right away as long as I'm not at my user limit. It's a little weird to see them in the 'assignable' users list, but that means I can take the time after they have been terminated to adjust all their tasks before I (eventually) have to delete them and resuse their sear. This is also a problem with time tracking reports (dont delete until the month/quarterly exports have concluded). Since each user costs $$ and usually you have to fill the vacancy with a new user, you need a few free spots at all times to allow for this issue -- more $$.
BTW-- on the 'Enterprise' plan you have an option for an inactive user that wont cost a seat. Can this just be ported to the 'business' plan?
A workaround:
If you use the search bar and type in the deleted user's name, every task they were ever assigned to will pop up, their icon will just be a grey and white X. (Unfortunately so will their mentions, but this is a workaround not a solution :)
On the list that populates, click on Show More and then Show All. Tasks will appear on the main screen.
You can filter by "active tasks" and go in one-by-one and reassign them manually.
Hi Kelly Hagen, this is a great workaround! You could also use mass editing to quickly reassign users to different tasks, rather than do it one by one.
Thank you for all of your feedback everyone! It's been passed on to our Product team.
@... - you can't use mass editing once a user has been deleted though... (One of the issues this thread is addressing.)
(Your link to mass editing is broken btw)
Hey Kelly Hagen, thank you for the heads up on the mass editing link! It has been fixed 😊
I have just tested mass editing in the List View to reassign tasks from deleted users from Search and I haven't had any issue doing this, could you give me some details about your experience? I want to make sure I'm recreating your scenario correctly in case there has been any miscommunication.
@... - yes i stand corrected, I see now how to mass reassign tasks from this generated list. Thanks!