[People] Allow admins to search for and edit deleted objects

[leward]

Occasionally our support center deletes users or courses with usernames or SIS IDs that need to be reactivated, either by restoring a deleted object or by changing the SIS ID on the deleted object so it can be used.  Currently the only way to view and edit deleted object is to reactivate the object via an SIS Import.   Providing view and edit access to deleted objects via the Canvas UI would make this process much easier.  

[Stef_retired]

@leward  Thanks for sharing this idea. You might also be interested in adding your rating and comment to  Add "Include deleted objects" to MGP Report.

[KristinL]

  Comments from Instructure

This feature is available in Beta. For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2024-01-31) 

How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?

[leward]

Hi @KristinL .  I just tested this feature and I don't think it actually addresses the problem.  I attempted to search for known deleted users (users who show as deleted in the provisioning users.csv for the root account).  If I attempt to search for any of these users, I get 0 results.  The reason may be due to this statement in the relaese notes:

"When deleted from All Accounts, the user is permanently deleted and will not display in the search."

All of our users are provisioned into the root account and the root only, which according to the above statement means when they are deleted, the deletion is permanent.   However, it is still not possible for us to add a new user with the same login ID or sis ID as a deleted user.  This suggests that they are still in the user database.  If they were not, Canvas would not be able to detect a conflict between the deleted user's data and the user we are trying to create.

The upshot is that this enhancement as currentlt implemented does not help with the user case I described in my feature request.  I'm think it may not be userful to other institutions either.

[mysti]

Deleting from all accounts is only available to our support people for permanent deletion requests.  It shouldn't be in the way of you being able to find deleted users from your provisioning reports.

I pulled an old report from your beta instance and found a deleted user that I was able to search for in the new tool.  At this point, it would probably be helpful to submit a ticket to support so we can get better information about what's not working for you.

[leward]

Hi @mysti ...long time no see!  

I did some testing and I now see why it wasn't working for me.  I was trying to look the user up by data in the associated login(s)---that is, sis_user_id or login_id.  The login data appears not be be available for the deleted users and that's the information that I need.  Since this info is available in the Provisioning report, it's curious that it is not included when displaying a deleted user in the people tool.  Also, there is no visual indicator that the user has been deleted in the People tool.  It's just not useful to me as currently implemented.

[mysti]

Hey @leward  I wondered if you would remember me. 🙂

That makes sense about the login data, unfortunately it didn't come up while working on this originally.  It does require users be searched by their Canvas user ID currently.  That's a good suggestion for future improvements on the tool.