You can use the API endpoint to delete accounts and visitors without contacting our support team. You can also choose to contact our support team to process the request on your behalf.
We process requests to delete accounts and visitors in batches, and it can take up to 21 days to meet General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance requirements.
Before you begin
- You must have API access enabled. If API access isn't enabled and is part of your current contract, contact your Pendo account representative to enable the feature.
- You must also have a Pendo integration key. For instructions on generating an integration key, see the Pendo integration keys article.
How it works
When you submit a bulk deletion request, it goes into a queue for processing. From submission until the deletion job starts, we continue to collect data for those visitors and accounts.
When the deletion job starts, we mark them as Do Not Process (DNP) so we stop collecting new data for them. The full process, from submission to completed deletion, can take up to 21 days. If you need it to start sooner, contact our support team.
Warning: All deletions are permanent and can't be undone.
If you need data collection to stop before the deletion job starts, turn on DNP for those visitors or accounts before you submit the deletion request. For more information, see Turn on DNP using the metadata endpoint.
What gets deleted with an account
Deleting an account also deletes the visitors associated with the account if those visitors don't also belong to another account. If a visitor belongs to another account that isn't being deleted, or if the visitor has events that are associated with no account, they still appear in Pendo.
Request limits and status
Each batch request can delete up to 500 visitors or accounts. If you make this call more than once per second, there's a significant likelihood of returning errors.
After a batch request is submitted, you can check its status using GET. You can do this on a single request or multiple requests, as listed in the API documentation.
DNP after deletion
After deletion, we retain the Visitor IDs and Account IDs so the DNP setting stays in effect. If you also need those IDs removed, contact our support team.
To see all visitors and accounts that are currently marked as DNP for your Pendo subscription, follow the instructions in Retrieve DNP records in the Opt out of tracking with DNP article.
To remove a visitor or account that's been bulk-deleted from the DNP list, follow the instructions in Turn off DNP using the metadata endpoint in the Opt out of tracking with DNP article.
Resources
For more information about GDPR rights and the Pendo API, see the GDPR article and API documentation. You can also visit our Pendo Academy for our training video on API setup.