Delete profile information from Slack
To meet global data privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), the primary owner of a workspace or Enterprise Grid organisation can delete member profiles.
Some background
- A primary owner controls the data for their workspace or Enterprise Grid org (we call this Customer Data). This includes content submitted by members and member profile information.
- When members leave a Slack workspace or org, they may have the right to request that their profile be deleted. As the data controller, the primary owner is responsible for determining whether profile information requires deletion.
- Profiles can be deleted once a member’s account is deactivated. Once profile information is removed, it can’t be recovered.
Note: We don’t recommend deleting profiles for administrative purposes, as this can impact the usability of your workspace. If a member has a duplicate account, follow the steps to fix duplicate accounts instead.
What is profile information?
Deleting a member’s profile from Slack will remove their personally identifiable information:
- Display name
- Full name
- Profile picture
- Phone numbers
- Email address
- Job title
- Details from a custom profile field
- Pronouns
Content that isn’t considered to be profile information won’t be removed from Slack. This includes the following:
- A member’s message content from any channels or direct messages
- Any canvases or files that the member created
Note: Full and display names will appear as @deactivateduser when member profiles have been deleted. Slack Atlas view-only profiles will retain full and display names when deleted.
Submit a request to delete your profile
Members can submit a request to delete their profiles. Keep in mind that submitting a request does not guarantee that a profile will be deleted. Per our User terms of service, a primary owner is responsible for determining whether profile information requires deletion.
Free, Pro and Business+ subscriptions
Enterprise Grid subscription
If you still have access to your workspace, we suggest contacting your workspace primary owner directly. If you’re unable to get in touch with this person, we can help with forwarding the request on your behalf.
Option 1: Contact the workspace primary owner
- Visit your workspace settings to confirm your workspace primary owner's contact information.
- Deactivate your account.
- Contact your workspace primary owner and request to delete your profile information
Option 2: Contact Slack
If you’re unable to get in touch with the workspace primary owner, we can help with forwarding the request on your behalf.
- Send us a note at feedback@slack.com. To help us locate your account, please include your workspace URL and the email address associated with your Slack account.
- We'll forward your request to the workspace primary owner.
We suggest contacting your org primary owner directly if you can, but if you need help identifying this person, contact us and we’ll help to forward your request.
- Send us a note at feedback@slack.com. To help us locate your account, please include your org URL and the email address associated with your Slack account.
- We'll forward your request to the org primary owner.
Note: If you’d like to remove a Slack Atlas view-only profile, contact your Slack admins for help.
Delete member profiles
Free, Pro and Business+ subscriptions
Enterprise Grid subscription
A workspace primary owner can delete profiles for deactivated members.
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
- Hover over Tools & settings, then click Manage members.
- Click on the three dots icon next to the profile that you’d like to delete.
- Select Delete profile. Note that you’ll only see this option if the member’s profile has already been deactivated.
- Tick the box and select Delete profile to confirm.
By default, an org primary owner can delete profiles for deactivated members. They can also allow other org owners and org admins to do this.
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
- Hover over Tools & settings, then click Organisation settings.
- Click on People in the left sidebar, then select Members.
- Select View deactivated members in the top right.
- Click on the three dots icon next to the profile that you’d like to delete.
- Select Delete profile.
- Tick the box and select Delete profile to confirm.
Note: You can use SCIM to delete Slack Atlas view-only profiles.