Get started with holds in Google Vault

Use holds to prevent the deletion of data associated with specific data custodians, either individual accounts or all accounts in an organizational unit.

Holds are different from retention rules because they never expire. If a user has any data placed on hold, their account can’t be deleted by a Google Workspace admin until the hold is removed.

Data placed on hold can be purged only after a Vault user deletes the hold, a custodian is removed from the hold, or a user no longer has a Vault license.

What data is protected by a hold

Holds are set by Google service:

• Gmail—Messages and attachments stored in Gmail, including content in Sent, Drafts (only drafts not deleted), Trash, Archive, and Spam.
• Groups—Messages in Google Groups (until the group is deleted).
• Chat—On-the-record (history on) Google Chat messages.
• Drive—Items (not folders or shortcuts) in users' Drives and, optionally, items in associated shared drives. Drive holds also apply to Meet recordings, log files associated with the recordings, and new Google Sites sites. Note: A hold doesn't prevent users from editing files in Drive. However, for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, and Drawings files, all versions of the file are preserved by the hold.
• Voice—Google Voice text messages, voicemails and their transcripts, and call logs.

For more details, see Supported data types.

Holds and retention rule precedence

• Holds override retention rules. If a retention rule is set to purge data at the end of the retention period, data on hold isn't purged until the hold is removed.
• Holds are additive. One hold does not replace another hold.

  For example, you create 2 Gmail holds:

  1. Hold A applies to user [e-mail] and matches messages with the phrase "project X".

  2. Hold B applies to the same user and matches messages with term budget.

  With these 2 holds in place, Vault preserves messages that contains either project X or budget for [e-mail]. If you remove Hold A, messages that match Hold B are still preserved but others can be purged.

When held data is purged

A hold protects data until one of the following events occurs:

• The hold is deleted—Data that isn't covered by other holds is immediately subject to applicable retention rules. Data that users deleted more than 30 days ago may be immediately purged.
• A custodian is removed from a hold—Data that isn't covered by other holds is immediately subject to applicable retention rules. Data that users deleted more than 30 days ago may be immediately purged.
• The user no longer has a Vault license—A user must have a Vault license for their data to be held. If a user on hold is downgraded to a Google Workspace edition that doesn't automatically entitle every account to a Vault license, assign an add-on license before you downgrade to protect their data. Otherwise, the hold no longer applies and data may be purged immediately.
• A file is unshared with a custodian—Data that is unshared with a custodian is immediately subject to applicable retention rules.

Working with holds

To place data on hold, you need the Manage Holds Vault privilege and access to a matter.

You can review holds by matter and across all matters. For details, see Review all holds for your organization.

If you need to change the custodians covered by a hold, you can edit the hold. When you're ready to close a matter and release the custodians' data from the hold, you can delete the hold.

FAQ

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What's the difference between a hold and a retention rule?

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: Individual accounts Organizational units Groups	Retention rules can be applied to: Users in organizational units or groups Product entities such as shared drives and Chat spaces.  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.

Why shouldn’t I set a hold on the top organizational unit?

We recommend that you don’t set a hold on the top organizational unit of your organization for the following reasons:

• Google Workspace admins can’t delete any user accounts.
• You might increase your organization’s risk by keeping data that isn’t needed.
• Your eDiscovery costs might increase because you have more data for analysis and processing.

Instead, consider applying retention rules more broadly and work with your legal team to identify specific users, organizational units, or groups that need to be on hold.