Data retention rules control how your organization saves and deletes Google Workspace data for compliance or regulatory reasons.
By default, Google Workspace data stays in user accounts until the user or admin deletes it. If your organization needs more control over data retention, you can set up retention rules in Google Vault. These rules organize how data is stored and for how long, and purge data once it’s no longer needed.
About retention rules
With Vault, you can use retention rules to:
- Keep data for as long as you need it—You can set up rules to retain data for how long you need it. The data is kept even if users delete messages and files or empty their trash.
- Remove data when you no longer need it—You can schedule Vault to delete data after a duration of time. When the retention period expires, the data is removed from user accounts and purged from all Google systems. (Data under a legal hold is not purged.) The time it takes to remove expired data varies depending on the service. For details, go to Data can remain in Vault after all retention rules expire (later on this page).
Types of retention rules
Default retention rules
If you must keep all data for a service for a set time, set a default retention rule. Default rules apply to data only when a custom rule or hold doesn’t apply. You can’t apply default retention rules to only specific accounts or time periods, and you can only have one default retention rule for each service.
Custom retention rules
If you must keep specific data for a set time, set a custom retention rule. You can specify the data with conditions and terms depending on the service:
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Gmail and Google Groups—Set by organizational unit, date ranges, and specific search terms.
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Google Drive, Meet, and Sites—Set by organizational unit, and define expiration based on last modified dates (to address staleness) and created dates (to address compliance requirements), trashed dates, or Drive label date fields.
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Google Chat—Set by organizational unit or for all Chat spaces in the organization.
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Google Calendar—Set by organizational unit, and define expiration based on the date the event ends. For details, go to About retention periods.
- Google Voice for Google Workspace—Set by organizational unit and data type.
You can set as many custom rules as your organization needs. Data is retained according to the rule with the latest expiration. For Drive, if a Drive item in trash is subject to multiple retention rules, a moved-to-trash rule supersedes all other retention rules.
Important information about retention
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Holds and retention rules both retain data in Vault, but they have important differences:
| Holds | Retention rules | |
|---|---|---|
|
Use |
Holds are typically created in response to an investigation or legal issue. |
Retention rules are used to proactively control how long data is preserved. |
| Scope | Holds can be applied to:
|
Retention rules can be applied to:
Note: Retention rules can't be applied to individual accounts, except by matching terms. |
|
Preservation period |
Holds preserve data indefinitely, until the hold is deleted. |
Retention rules preserve data for a specified period, which can be a set number of days or indefinitely. |
|
Precedence |
Holds take precedence over retention rules. When a hold is deleted, data is immediately subject to applicable retention rules. |
Retention rules aren't applied to data preserved by a hold until the hold is removed. Custom rules take precedence over default rules, even when the default rule expires later. Data can be removed from Google production systems when the last applicable retention rule expires. |
|
Access |
Only Vault users who have access to a matter can review who and what is on hold. |
Only Vault users who have retention rule privileges can manage retention rules. |
Vault is fully integrated with the Google services that it supports, so there is no separate archive.
When a retention rule is applied to a message or file, the item is deleted from the service, even if the user has not marked it for deletion.
For example, you create a default retention rule to retain Gmail messages for 365 days, and have no custom rules or holds. Vault deletes every message older than 1 year.
- Gmail and Groups—The retention period starts the day that the message is sent or received.
- Drive, Meet, and Sites—Depending on how the retention rule is set up, the retention period can start:
- When the item was created
- When the item was last modified
- When the item was moved to the trash
- If a Drive label has a date field in the condition, on the value set for Drive label date field
- Chat—The retention period starts the day the message was sent. The retention period start doesn't change when a user edits or deletes a message.
- Calendar—The retention period starts when the event ends. For details, go to About retention periods.
- Voice for Google Workspace:
- Text messages—The retention period starts at 11:59 PM UTC-7 the day that the message was sent.
- Voicemails and their transcripts—The retention period starts at 11:59 PM UTC-7 the day that the voicemail was created.
- Call logs—The retention period starts at 11:59 PM UTC-7 the day that the call was made or received.
When the default retention period expires, Vault purges a message or file only if:
- It is not being retained by any custom retention rules. Data is always kept as required by the custom rule with the longest retention period. Custom retention rules always take precedence over the default retention rule, even if the custom retention rule is shorter than the default retention rule.
- It is not subject to a hold. When the hold is removed, retention rules take effect.
Even when a retention rule is set to purge data, the background process that removes permanently deleted or expired data from Google systems keeps data available to Vault for approximately 30 days before it is fully purged.
Email messages
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Messages in a user’s Gmail or posted in Google Groups when all retention rules expire are removed from the user’s view (this process can take hours to days). Messages remain available to Vault administrators for approximately 30 more days, during which you can search for, export, or place holds on them. After 30 days, you can no longer retrieve these messages.
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Messages deleted by users or group managers less than 30 days before retention coverage expires are kept until necessary to meet the maximum of 30 days. For example, if a user deletes messages and empties them from trash 20 days before the retention coverage expires, you can search for them in Vault for another 10 days. After that time, you can no longer retrieve them.
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Gmail messages that were deleted more than 30 days before the retention coverage expires are immediately purged at the end of the retention period, and you can’t retrieve them.
For examples of how retention rules work in Gmail, go to Example Gmail retention rules and their effect.
Items in Drive
- Items and sites in a user's Drive can take up to 15 days to be removed from Drive after all retention rules expire. If an item is removed from Drive and is not covered by retention rules or holds, it is immediately unavailable to Vault. If files were removed fewer than 25 days ago, an admin might be able to retrieve the files.
- Items and sites deleted by users and emptied from the trash are immediately unavailable to Vault, if there’s no retention rule or hold to extend their availability. If files were removed fewer than 25 days ago, an admin might be able to retrieve the files.
Chat messages
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Chat messages are kept for 30 more days after a user or a retention rule removes them from a conversation or a space. The purge process begins on day 30 and can take several more days to complete depending on the number of messages being purged.
Calendar events
- Calendar events are kept for 30 days after a user or a retention rule removes the event. Events are searchable and exportable in Vault.
Voice data
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Voice text messages, voicemails and their transcripts, and call logs are purged up to 30 days after retention coverage expires, and you can’t retrieve them.
Some Google services store their data in Drive. This data is covered by Drive retention rules as follows:
| Product | Retention |
|---|---|
| Jamboard | Vault retains jams saved to users' Drives according to Drive retention rules. Unsaved jams are discarded when the Jamboard session ends and are unavailable to Vault. |
| Google Meet | Meet recordings, notes taken by Gemini, and the logs for in-Meet chat, Q&A, and polls are covered by Drive retention rules by default.
To manage retention of Meet recordings differently from other items in Drive, you can set up retention rules for Meet. When retention rules for Meet are turned on, Drive retention rules don't apply to Meet recordings. |
| Google Sites | Sites are covered by Sites retention rules by default.
To retain sites differently from other items in Drive, you can set up retention rules for Sites. When retention rules for Sites are turned on, Drive retention rules don't apply to sites. To retain sites the same as other items in Drive, you can change retention settings so sites are retained by Drive rules. |
Use caution when modifying existing retention rules. Services can immediately purge unprotected data that users deleted over 30 days ago.
Child organizational units inherit custom retention rules from their parent organizational unit.
These inherited custom rules apply to all child organizational units, even if the child organizational unit is created after the custom retention rule was set up.
For example:
example.com is the root organizational unit and has a default retention of 2 years for Gmail.
example.com_US has a custom retention rule of 11 years for Gmail. This rule is applied as the primary rule.
example.com_US\Employees is a child organization unit and inherits the custom retention rule of 11 years from its parent organizational unit (example.com_US). The custom rule is applied as the primary rule. This rule is applied even if example.com_US\Employees is created after the custom retention rule is set up for example.com_US.