Google Calendar now deletes a leaver's extra calendars with their account, so the team leave calendar could walk out with them
By Brett Gavaghan, Founder of Adaptd ·
Google Workspace now treats secondary calendars like the primary one: delete or suspend the owner and they go too. Transfer them before anyone leaves.
The short version
- Google Calendar's secondary calendars now follow their owner's account, so deleting a user deletes them and suspending a user suspends them.
- The change started rolling out to Google Workspace organisations on 5 October 2026 and may take more than 15 days to reach everyone.
- Before you delete or suspend a departing staff member's account, transfer any shared calendars they own to someone who's staying.
Every business has a shared calendar someone set up years ago, for leave, bookings or the delivery roster, and nobody remembers who owns it. Google has just made that question matter.
What changed in Google Calendar?
Google Calendar's secondary calendars now follow the lifecycle of the person who owns them. Secondary calendars are the extra calendars you create alongside your own, like a team leave calendar or a room booking calendar.
They used to be able to outlive their owner. Now, deleting a user in Google Workspace also deletes the secondary calendars they own, and suspending a user suspends them, the same as primary calendars.
Who does it affect, and when?
The change affects Google Workspace organisations, and Google started rolling it out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains on 5 October 2026. Google notes it may take longer than 15 days to show up for everyone.
There's no opt-out. To keep a secondary calendar, transfer it before the owner's account is deleted or suspended. Admins can do that in the Admin console or the Calendar API, and staff can transfer their own in Calendar settings.
What should your business do about it?
Businesses on Google Workspace should add a calendar ownership check to their offboarding steps, before any account is deleted or suspended.
My take: a sensible tidy-up with a sharp edge. The bigger risk is the calendar owned by someone who left two years ago, whose account is still parked 'just in case'. Delete it in a licence clean-up and the calendar goes too. My advice: spend ten minutes listing your shared calendars and their owners, and move anything important to a current staff member. Much cheaper than finding out the delivery roster has quietly left the building.
Wondering what this means for your business?
That's exactly what the discovery call is for.