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Our PDM Vault has become cluttered with users who are no longer employed here. A quick check shows me that 64% of the users are no longer employees. It looks like I can safely delete them and the only side effect is that the file history dialog with add (deleted MM/DD/YYYY) beside the username.

Are there any unintentional side effects that I should be aware of?

Are you able to disable the users. We use DDM as out PDM system and that is what we do with users who have left. The hides them from coming up in general searches etc. but keeps their history.

The only issue, or quirk really, that we get is via the PDM add-in with the Get Version dialog. It will stop showing who the user was that checked it in if they're deleted. However, the file's history shows everything correctly.
Users are still stored in the PDM database, but are marked as deleted (Enabled column value set to 0) with their deletion date added to their username field as well. Edit: This is a different user than the one in the above 2 images which is why the deleted dates are different

AlexB wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:12 am The only issue, or quirk really, that we get is via the PDM add-in with the Get Version dialog. It will stop showing who the user was that checked it in if they're deleted. However, the file's history shows everything correctly.

Nice. Looks like that is

SPR 1108127 --- Inconsistency with how a deleted user in PDM is displayed, as '-' in the 'get' menu in SOLIDWORKS using the PDM add-in when compared to the history of the file in PDM

I've also discovered that you can still enter the deleted username in the search dropdown for users and get results. This is probably the only place I would want to search with a user that has been deleted. I often know who worked on some project in the past but don't know what files were involved, so searching for transitions by the user can help narrow things down.

As a side note, 2023 added the ability to restore a deleted user from the admin tool. As @AlexB mentioned, it just flags them in the DB, doesn't actually delete them. In fact, I've restored a user account manually on a couple of occasions.

I have been adding the acronym (NLE) to the users that have left the company. It stands for No Longer Employed. I added it at the end of their name in the "Full name:" value of their User properties form. It keeps the user in the system, but helps me sort the list of users.

I also make sure that these users are removed from any groups (so they don't have any permission to do anything in PDM).

VicFrauenfeld wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:12 am I have been adding the acronym (NLE) to the users that have left the company. It stands for No Longer Employed. I added it at the end of their name in the "Full name:" value of their User properties form. It keeps the user in the system, but helps me sort the list of users.

I also make sure that these users are removed from any groups (so they don't have any permission to do anything in PDM).

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To be safe, you should also set the Refuse Login permission under the Administrative Permissions.

Diaval wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 12:37 pm To be safe, you should also set the Refuse Login permission under the Administrative Permissions.

I thought of that while I was typing my original post. Fortunately, our IT department removes the user name from Active Directory within a day or so.

I think I might add the Refuse Login permission to my process from now on though.

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 3:04 pm As a side note, 2023 added the ability to restore a deleted user from the admin tool. As @AlexB mentioned, it just flags them in the DB, doesn't actually delete them. In fact, I've restored a user account manually on a couple of occasions.

This is nice to see added, I've used the manual workaround a few times as well.

What about renaming them putting a "(deleted)" in front of their full name so they will be grouped together in the search drop down menu in the search cards etc.

Our VAR suggested having a "No longer employed" group. We move users there and they have no permissions anymore, but are still in the database. I may add the "No longer employed" or some acronym to their full name. That looks like it could be pretty useful.