Orphaned users in AzureAD/O365 showing up in org chart

Orphaned users in AzureAD/O365 showing up in org chart

Issue:  How to remove orphaned users at O365 that are still showing up in active users' org charts.

How Orphaned Objects Occur:

There are two main ways this happens.

Hard-Deleted Mailbox.

The current by-design behavior when you purge mailbox user:

  1. User account in AzureAD is deleted with remove-msoluser
  2. User account in EXO is moved to the Soft-Deleted users container
    1. The mailbox is disconnected, will remain this way for 30 days.
  3. User account in AzureAD is purged with remove-msoluser -removefromrecyclebin
  4. User account in EXO has its externalDirectoryObjectID cleared
    1. The mailbox remains disconnected, still for 30 days from the date that step #2 occurred.

The mailbox will return with the get-mailbox -softdeletedMailboxcommandlet until it is permanently deleted by the system after 30 days, or until it is permanently deleted by the Administrator.

Inactive Mailboxes

A mailbox that is on LitigationHold or InPlaceHold, when it is deleted will be placed in a soft-deleted state and remain there until the hold is removed and the mailbox is manually purged by the Administrator.

Hard Deleted MailUser

The current by-design behavior when you purge mailuser:

  1. User account in AzureAD is deleted with remove-msoluser
  2. User account in EXO is moved to the Soft-Deleted container
    1. It will remain this way for 30 days.
  3. User account in AzureAD is purged with remove-msoluser -removefromrecyclebin
  4. User account in EXO has its externalDirectoryObjectID cleared
    1. It continues to remain this way for 30 days from the date that step #2 occurred

This is the same design that applies to mailboxes. The only difference is that the mailuser cannot be manually purged, there is no PowerShell command available to accomplish this. The customer must wait 30 days for the system to clear the account.


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