Responding to Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests to delete Power Apps customer data

The "right to erasure" by the removal of personal data from an organization's customer data is a key protection in the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Removing personal data includes removing system-generated logs but not audit log information.

Power Apps allows users to build line-of-business applications that are a critical part of your organization's day-to-day operations. When a user leaves your organization, you need to manually review and determine whether to delete certain data and resources that the user created. Other personal data is automatically deleted whenever the user's account is deleted from Microsoft Entra.

Here's the breakdown between which personal data is automatically deleted and which data requires your manual review and deletion:

** Each of these resources contains Created By and Modified By records that include personal data. For security reasons, these records are retained until the resource is deleted.

*** For environments that include a Microsoft Dataverse database, environment permissions (that is, which users are assigned to the Environment Maker and Admin roles) are stored as records in that database. For guidance on how to respond to DSRs for users of Dataverse, see Responding to Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests for Dataverse customer data.

For the data and resources that require manual review, Power Apps offers the following experiences to reassign (if necessary) or delete personal data for a specific user:

• Website access: Power Apps site, Power Platform admin center, and Microsoft 365 Service Trust Portal

• PowerShell access: Power Apps cmdlets for app creators and administrators and cmdlets for on-premises gateways.

Here's the breakdown of which experiences are available to delete each type of resource that can contain personal data:

** With the introduction of Dataverse, if a database is created within the environment, environment permissions and model-driven app permissions are stored as records within the environment of that database. For guidance on how to respond to DSRs for users of Dataverse, see Responding to Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests for Dataverse customer data.

Prerequisites

For users

Any user with a valid Power Apps license can perform the user operations outlined in this document using the Power Apps or PowerShell cmdlets for app creators.

Unmanaged tenant

If you're a member of an unmanaged tenant, then you can follow the steps outlined in this part to remove your own personal data. You must follow the instructions outlined in Step 13: Delete the user from Microsoft Entra to delete your own account from the tenant.

To determine if you're a member of an unmanaged tenant, follow these steps:

1. Open the following URL in a browser, making sure to replace your email address in the URL: https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/userrealm/name@contoso.com?api-version=2.1

2. If you're a member of an unmanaged tenant,** then you can see an "IsViral": true in the response.

{
  ...
  "Login": "name@unmanagedcontoso.com",
  "DomainName": "unmanagedcontoso.com",
  "IsViral": true,
  ...
}

Otherwise, you belong to a managed tenant.

For administrators

To perform the administrative operations outlined in this document using the Power Platform admin center, Power Automate admin center, or PowerShell cmdlets for Power Apps administrators, you need the following plans and permissions:

• A paid Power Apps plan or a Power Apps plan trial. You can sign up for a 30-day trial at https://make.powerapps.com/trial. You can renew the trial licenses after their expiration.

• Microsoft 365 global admin or Microsoft Entra global administrator permissions if you need to search through another user's resources.

Step 1: Delete or reassign all environments created by the user

As an administrator, you have two decisions to make when processing a DSR delete request for each environment that the user created:

1. If the environment isn't being used by anyone else in your organization, you can choose to delete the environment.

2. If the environment is still required, you can choose not to delete the environment and add yourself (or another user in your organization) as an Environment Admin.

Give access to a user's environments

An admin can grant administrative access to an environment by following these steps:

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center.

2. In the navigation pane, select Manage.

3. In the Manage pane, select Environments, and then select an environment to give admin privileges to yourself or another user in your organization.

4. If the environment was created by the user from the DSR request, under Access > Environment admin, select See all.

   

Delete environments created by a user

An admin can review and delete environments created by a specific user by following these steps:

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center.

2. In the navigation pane, select Manage.

3. In the Manage pane, select Environments, and then select an environment.

4. If the environment was created by the user from the DSR request, select Delete and then proceed with the steps to delete the environment.

Give access to a user's environments using PowerShell

An administrator can assign themselves (or another user within their organization) access to all environments created by a user by using the Set-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment function in the PowerShell cmdlets for Power Apps administrators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"
$myUserId = $global:currentSession.UserId

#Assign yourself as an admin to each environment created by the user
Get-AdminPowerAppEnvironment -CreatedBy $deleteDsrUserId | Set-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment -RoleName EnvironmentAdmin -PrincipalType User -PrincipalObjectId $myUserId

#Retrieve the environment role assignments to confirm
Get-AdminPowerAppEnvironment -CreatedBy $deleteDsrUserId | Get-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment

Delete environments created by a user using PowerShell

An administrator can delete all environments created by a user by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppEnvironment function in the PowerShell cmdlets for Power Apps administrators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

# Retrieve all environments created by the user and then delete them
Get-AdminPowerAppEnvironment -CreatedBy $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppEnvironment

Step 2: Delete the user's permissions to all other environments

Users can be assigned permissions (such as Environment Admin and Environment Maker) in an environment, which are stored in the Power Apps service as a "role assignment." With the introduction of Dataverse, if a database is created within the environment, these "role assignments" are stored as records within the environment of that database.

For environments without a Dataverse database

Power Platform admin center

An administrator can delete a user's environment permissions starting from the Power Platform admin center by following these steps:

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center as a Microsoft Entra Power Platform Administrator or a Microsoft Entra Dynamics 365 Administrator.

2. In the navigation pane, select Manage.

3. In the Manage pane, select Environments, and then select each environment in your organization.

4. If your environment doesn't have a Dataverse database, you can see a section called Access. Under Access, select either Environment admin or Environment maker, and then select See all.

5. Select a user, select Remove to remove their permission, and then select Continue.

PowerShell

An administrator can delete all environment role assignments for a user across all environments without a Dataverse database by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment function in the PowerShell cmdlets for Power Apps administrators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#find all environment role assignments for the user for environments without a Dataverse database and delete them
Get-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment -UserId $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppEnvironmentRoleAssignment

For environments WITH a Dataverse database

With the introduction of the Dataverse, if a database is created within the environment, these "role assignments" are stored as records within the environment of that database. Refer to the following documentation on how to remove personal data from an environment of a database in Dataverse: Common Data Service User personal data removal

Step 3: Delete or reassign all canvas apps owned by a user

Reassign a user's canvas apps using the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets

If an admin decides not to delete a user's canvas apps, they can reassign the apps owned by a user by using the Set-AdminPowerAppOwner function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cdmlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"
$newAppOwnerUserId = "72c272b8-14c3-4f7a-95f7-a76f65c9ccd8"

#find all apps owned by the DSR user and assigns them a new owner
Get-AdminPowerApp -Owner $deleteDsrUserId | Set-AdminPowerAppOwner -AppOwner $newAppOwnerUserId

Delete a user's canvas app using the Power Apps site

A user can delete an app from Power Apps. For the full steps on how to delete an app, see Delete a canvas app.

Delete a user's canvas app using the Power Platform admin center

An admin can delete apps created by a user by following these steps:

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center as a Microsoft Entra Power Platform Administrator or a Microsoft Entra Dynamics 365 Administrator.

2. In the navigation pane, select Manage.

3. In the Manage pane, select Environments, and then select an environment in your organization.

4. Under Resources, select Power Apps.

5. Select an app, and then select Delete > Delete from cloud.

Delete a user's canvas app using the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets

If an admin decides to delete all canvas apps owned by a user, they can do so using the Remove-AdminApp function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#find all apps owned by the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerApp -Owner $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerApp

Step 4: Delete the user's permissions to canvas apps

Whenever an app is shared with a user, Power Apps stores a record called a "role assignment" that describes the user's permissions (CanEdit or CanUse) to the application. Learn mre in Share a canvas app with your organization.

To delete user permissions to a canvas app, see Preview: Share a model-driven app. For step 5, remove rather than add a role from the list.

PowerShell cmdlets for admins

An admin can delete all of a user's canvas-app role assignments by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppRoleAssignment function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#find all app role assignments for the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppRoleAssignment -UserId $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppRoleAssignment

Step 5: Delete connections created by a user

Connections are used with connectors when establishing connectivity with other APIs and SaaS systems. Connections do include references to the user who created them and, as a result, can be deleted to remove any references to the user.

PowerShell cmdlets for app creators

A user can delete all of their connections by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnection function in the PowerShell cmdlets for app creators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount

#Retrieves all connections for the calling user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnection | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnection

PowerShell cmdlets for Power Apps administrators

An admin can delete all of a user's connections by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnection function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#Retrieves all connections for the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnection -CreatedBy $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnection

Step 6: Delete the user's permissions to shared connections

PowerShell cmdlets for app creators

A user can delete all of their connection role assignments for shared connections by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment function in the PowerShell cmdlets for app creators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount

#Retrieves all connection role assignments for the calling users and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment

PowerShell cmdlets for admins

An admin can delete all of a user's connection role assignments by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#Retrieves all connection role assignments for the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment -PrincipalObjectId $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectionRoleAssignment

Step 7: Delete custom connectors created by the user

Custom Connectors supplement the existing out of box connectors and allow for connectivity to other APIs, SaaS, and custom-developed systems. You might want to transfer Custom Connector ownership to other users in the organization or delete the Custom Connector.

PowerShell cmdlets for app creators

A user can delete all of their custom connectors by using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnector function in the PowerShell cmdlets for app creators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount

#Retrieves all custom connectors for the calling user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnector | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnector

PowerShell cmdlets for admins

An admin can delete all custom connectors created by a user using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnector function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#Retrieves all custom connectors created by the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnector -CreatedBy $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnector

Step 8: Delete the user's permissions to shared custom connectors

PowerShell cmdlets for app creators

A user can delete all of their connector role assignments for shared custom connectors with the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment function in the PowerShell cmdlets for app creators:

Add-PowerAppsAccount

#Retrieves all connector role assignments for the calling users and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment

PowerShell cmdlets for admins

An admin can delete all custom connector role assignments for a user using the Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment function in the Power Apps Admin PowerShell cmdlets:

Add-PowerAppsAccount
$deleteDsrUserId = "0ecb1fcc-6782-4e46-a4c4-738c1d3accea"

#Retrieves all custom connector role assignments for the DSR user and deletes them
Get-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment -PrincipalObjectId $deleteDsrUserId | Remove-AdminPowerAppConnectorRoleAssignment

Step 9: Delete the user's personal data in Power Automate

Power Apps licenses always include Power Automate capabilities. In addition to being included in Power Apps licenses, Power Automate is also available as a standalone service. For guidance on how to respond to DSRs for users who use the Power Automate service, see Responding to GDPR Data Subject Requests for Power Automate.

Step 10: Delete the user's personal data in Microsoft Copilot Studio

Power Apps capabilities build upon Microsoft Copilot Studio, which is also available as a standalone service. For guidance on how to respond to DSR requests for Microsoft Copilot Studio service data, see Responding to Data Subject Requests for Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Step 11: Find personal data for the user in the Microsoft 365 admin center

Some feedback mechanisms in Power Apps are integrated with the Microsoft 365 admin center. For guidance on how to delete feedback data stored by the Microsoft 365 admin center, see How can I see my user's feedback?. A Microsoft Entra global administrator is able to manage this data within the Microsoft 365 admin center without the need for Microsoft 365 or Office licenses.

Step 12: Delete the user's personal data in environments of Dataverse

Certain Power Apps licenses, including the Power Apps Developer Plan, give the ability for users within your organization to create environments of Dataverse and to create and build apps on Dataverse. The Power Apps Developer Plan is a free license that allows users to try out Dataverse in an individual environment. See the Power Apps pricing page for which capabilities are included in each Power Apps license.

For guidance on how to respond to DSRs for users who use Dataverse, see Responding to Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests for Dataverse customer data.

Step 13: Delete the user from Microsoft Entra

After completing the specified steps, you can delete the user's account for Microsoft Entra.

Managed tenant

As an admin of a managed Microsoft Entra tenant, you can delete the user's account by following the steps outlined in the Azure Data Subject Request GDPR documentation that can be found on the Microsoft 365 Service Trust Portal.

Unmanaged tenant

If you're a member of an unmanaged tenant, then you need to follow these steps to delete your account from your Microsoft Entra tenant:

1. Sign in with your Microsoft Entra account.

2. Select Close account and follow the instructions to delete your account from your Microsoft Entra tenant.