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How-to guide

How to manage Connected User authorizations as part of security operations

The pattern: monitor monthly via OAuth Usage, revoke per-user on offboarding, revoke per-app on incidents, audit quarterly for stale authorizations. The discipline turns a silent accumulation into a controlled inventory.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 18, 2026

The pattern: monitor monthly via OAuth Usage, revoke per-user on offboarding, revoke per-app on incidents, audit quarterly for stale authorizations. The discipline turns a silent accumulation into a controlled inventory.

  1. Review OAuth Usage monthly

    Setup, Apps, Connected Apps, Connected Apps OAuth Usage. Note new apps and apps with unexpected user counts. Investigate anomalies.

  2. Build OauthToken stale-authorization report

    Report on OauthToken filtering for LastUsedDate over 90 days ago. The report is the prioritized list for the quarterly deeper audit.

  3. Add Connected User revocation to offboarding checklist

    Every leaver gets their authorizations explicitly revoked. Query OauthToken WHERE UserId = leaver, revoke each row.

  4. Document expected Connected App inventory

    Per app: owner team, business purpose, expected user population. Apps outside the inventory need investigation.

  5. Configure refresh token lifetime policy per Connected App

    Shorter lifetimes reduce the silent-persistence risk at the cost of more frequent re-prompts. Tune per app sensitivity.

  6. Train users on revoking authorizations they no longer need

    Personal Settings, OAuth Connected Apps. Users who try a tool and abandon it should revoke; few do without training.

  7. Run the quarterly audit on the stale-authorization report

    Review each stale authorization, decide whether to revoke, document. The audit produces the compliance evidence regulators want.

Key options
Per-user revocationremember

Removes one user's authorization for one app. Right tool for offboarding.

Per-app blockremember

Revokes every user's authorization for one app at once. Right tool for compromised or ended apps.

Refresh token lifetimeremember

Per-Connected-App policy that bounds how long an authorization persists. Tune for sensitivity.

Audit cadenceremember

Monthly OAuth Usage review plus quarterly stale-authorization audit. The combination catches both new anomalies and accumulated drift.

Connected App inventoryremember

Documented list of expected apps with owner and purpose. The baseline against which the OAuth Usage view is reviewed.

Gotchas
  • User deactivation does not revoke Connected User authorizations. Manual revocation as part of offboarding is the only reliable cleanup.
  • Refresh tokens persist indefinitely by default. Connected App refresh token policy bounds the persistence; without policy, authorizations can live for years.
  • Stale authorizations accumulate silently. Quarterly audit on the OauthToken report is the only reliable surfacing mechanism.
  • Per-app block is immediate and broad. Confirm scope before clicking on production-critical apps.
  • Scopes granted by the user may be broader than the third-party app actually needs. Audit Connected App scopes during onboarding to confirm least-privilege.

See the full Connected User entry

Connected User includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.