Email triggered from one drive site to manager is based on entra ID account deletion?

The standard OneDrive delegation email is triggered by deletion of the user account from Microsoft Entra ID—not by disabling sign-in or removing the Microsoft 365 license.^1^

A 45-day delay should therefore be measured from the Entra ID deletion date, not the license-removal date. If the account was only disabled and unlicensed, that alone does not start the standard OneDrive cleanup/delegation process.

Determine which email was sent

Microsoft sends two possible messages during the deletion lifecycle:

1. Initial access-delegation email
   After account deletion is synchronized to SharePoint and the OneDrive Clean Up Job processes it, the manager receives access and is told when the OneDrive will be deleted.
2. Seven-day reminder
   A second email is sent seven days before the configured OneDrive retention period expires.^1^

Check the email wording:

• “You now have access” or equivalent: probably the initial delegation notification.
• “The OneDrive will be deleted in seven days”: the reminder notification.

A message received approximately 45 days after deletion could be the seven-day reminder if the tenant’s configured OneDrive retention period is approximately 52 days. The timing alone cannot confirm this; compare the email wording, actual deletion timestamp, and configured retention period.

Verify the relevant dates and configuration

1. In the Microsoft Entra admin center, check whether the employee is still an active—but sign-in-blocked—account or appears under Users → Deleted users.
2. Record the actual account-deletion date. The 30-day Entra deleted-user recovery period runs concurrently with OneDrive retention; it does not postpone the OneDrive trigger.^2^
3. In the SharePoint admin center, check the configured OneDrive retention period for deleted users. The default is 30 days, but it can be changed.^3^
4. Verify automatic delegation at: SharePoint admin center → More features → User profiles → Open → Setup My Sites → My Site Cleanup.
   • Enable access delegation should be selected.
   • The Entra ID manager receives the notice; if no manager exists, the configured secondary owner receives it.^1^

If the Entra account was never deleted

The email was not initiated by the standard deleted-user cleanup process. License removal now places OneDrive into the separate unlicensed-account lifecycle, including read-only and archival milestones, but that is distinct from the manager delegation workflow triggered by Entra deletion.^4^

In that case, check for:

• A later account-deletion event through Microsoft 365 administration or Active Directory synchronization.
• A manually assigned site collection administrator or OneDrive access action.
• A Power Automate workflow, custom offboarding automation, or third-party lifecycle tool that sends its own notification.
• Whether the received message concerns archival/unlicensed status, rather than access delegation after deletion.

Therefore, if the account was deleted around 45 days after it was disabled and unlicensed, that later deletion explains the delegation email. If no deletion occurred, the message originated from another process and its message headers or audit event should be used to identify that process.

References

1. OneDrive retention and deletion
2. Total retention time for OneDrive files after user deletion - Microsoft Q&A
3. Delete a user from your organization
4. Manage unlicensed OneDrive user accounts