We have a user that’s created most of our workflows/credentials, but he will be leaving. I see the option to move workflows / credentials when deleting a user, but I just wanted to confirm there are no other potential issues to take into account or things that would need manually checked after the move.
Is it just as simple as selecting the user to move them to?
Do tags transfer?
We’ll be taking a snapshot of the server and db, and I’ve exported the raw json for everything just in case.
@flowdan yeah its basically that simple, you pick the user to move everything to and n8n reassigns all their workflows and credentials to that person in one step. tags dont need transferring, theyre global to the instance rather than owned by a user, so they just stay on the workflows. the one thing id double-check after is that any credentials which were shared with specific people still resolve, and that your active/webhook workflows are still toggled on under the new owner since ownership changed. the db snapshot + json export is the right safety net either way.
In addition to what achamm has mentioned, the most common point of failure is if the leaving user set up credentials using OAuth2 (e.g., “Sign in with Google,” “Connect to Slack,” “Microsoft Graph”), the credential is tied to that specific user’s identity provider account.
The Issue: Moving the credential to a new user in n8n does not change the underlying account. If the leaving user’s corporate email/account is deactivated by IT, the OAuth token will be revoked, and all workflows using that credential will immediately fail, regardless of who “owns” the credential in n8n.
The Fix: You must manually recreate these credentials using a Service Account or a generic “System” account that won’t be deleted when the employee leaves.
Beyond the ownership transfer, check for these three things:
Hardcoded Identifiers: Search your workflows for any hardcoded email addresses, usernames, or specific IDs belonging to the leaving user (e.g., a node that sends a notification specifically to their email or filters for their specific user ID in a CRM).
Personal API Keys: If they used “API Key” authentication (rather than OAuth) and those keys were generated for their personal account (rather than a company-wide API key), those keys may be revoked when their account is closed.
Shared Workflow Permissions: If the workflows were shared with other team members, the ownership change usually doesn’t break this, but it is worth verifying that the new owner still has the intended sharing settings in place.