Inquiry About Managed User Transfer and License Limitation

👋 Hi ​@ELIN, welcome to the Box Community! I’d be happy to assist.

The recommended approach to resolve this is:

• Convert the new employee to a managed user first. The “Delete and Transfer” flow in the Admin Console requires the recipient to already be a managed user in your organization.
• Note that this will bring your total to 4 managed users. Please email cancel@box.com to confirm the process and eligibility for decreasing seats afterward.
• Increase the new employee’s storage quota to ensure they have enough space to receive all transferred content.
• Perform the content transfer and then delete the former employee’s account.

Another option, if you prefer not to purchase an additional license, is to transfer the content to an existing managed user. This keeps your total managed user count the same and avoids adding a new user right away.

However, keep in mind that this may create extra steps later if you plan to redistribute the content to the new employee after converting them into a managed user.

Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions or need clarification.

hello Jey,

I would like to clarify the process.

If we first convert the new employee to a managed user and then delete the previous employee's account, followed by contacting [removed by moderator] to reduce the seat count, will there be any additional charges?

• Convert the new employee to a managed user first. The “Delete and Transfer” flow in the Admin Console requires the recipient to already be a managed user in your organization.
• Note that this will bring your total to 4 managed users. Please email [removed by moderator] to confirm the process and eligibility for decreasing seats afterward.

Thank you.

Hi ​@ELIN, thank you for your response.

Converting an external user into a managed user will add a new licensed seat to your account, increasing your total from 3 to 4, so there’ll be an additional charge.

Since reducing seats afterward depends on your subscription’s eligibility, I recommend coordinating with our Support team that handles seat‑decrease requests at cancel@box.com. They can review your account eligibility to decrease back to the 3‑seat minimum in accordance with Box Terms.

I also noticed that you currently have an open support ticket outlining how you’d like to proceed with managing your account. It would be best to continue working with our Support team so they can provide the most accurate guidance and strategic approach and ensure everything is handled smoothly.

I look forward to getting this resolved for you soon.

In this situation, the best approach is usually to convert the new employee to a managed user by reassigning the departing employee's license, rather than adding a fourth managed user.

As a Box admin, you can typically:

1. Transfer the former employee's content to the new employee.
2. Remove or deactivate the former employee's managed account.
3. Assign that freed managed-user license to the new employee.

If Box prevents the transfer because the destination user is external, you may need to first convert the external user to a managed user using the license from the departing employee. Since licensing behavior can vary by plan, I recommend contacting Box Support or your Box account representative to confirm the exact process for your subscription.

You should not need to permanently purchase a fourth managed-user license just to complete the transfer.