Set Up Your Google Workspace Account’s Default Retention Rules
The default retention rules have a lower priority than custom retention rules.
To create a custom retention rule for Chat data, open Vault at https://vault.google.com and click Retention.
Select the CUSTOM RULES tab on top and then click the Create button.
Click the drop-down menu under Service and choose Chat. Click CONTINUE.
Next, select the Scope of your retention rule. You can apply it to data in All Chat spaces or users in specific Organizational units.
If you select the Organizational units option, data in Chat spaces will get excluded from this rule.
If you selected the Organizational unit option, your retention rule will apply to all users in the OU you choose, as well as all of its sub-OUs.
When applied to the top-level OU, all other OUs will also have the rule applied to them. That way, you are essentially applying it to all users in your account.
After selecting an OU, click CONTINUE.
On the Duration and action screen, choose how long to keep data matched by your retention rule.
You can keep it Indefinitely, which means that you will store data in Vault as long as you have Vault and the users matched by the rule have a Vault license assigned. Note that if you delete a user, this also deletes their data from Vault. Make sure to search and export user data before deleting users, as shown here.
If you select the Retention period option, you must now select a number of Days, and then you must also choose the Action after the expiration of the number of days you specify.
The retention period starts when messages are sent or received.
Purge only permanently deleted messages means that you will lose all messages that users have removed from their Trash folder in Gmail after the retention period passes.
Purge messages from Gmail mailboxes and permanently deleted messages. This rule doesn’t affect drafts. After the retention period passes, it will purge all emails (excluding drafts) from users’ Gmail and Vault.
Click CREATE.
A brief description of the rule appears.
Check the boxes to confirm that you understand that holds still apply and have a higher priority than this custom retention rule.
Also, depending on how you configured it, the rule may directly purge messages from users’ accounts without the ability to restore them.
Click ACCEPT to create the custom retention rule.
The custom retention rule now appears under the CUSTOM RULES tab when you select Retention in Google Vault.
To remove it, hover over it and click Delete, which appears on the right.
Important: any data retained by this rule will be deleted if not included in another rule or hold.
If you’re ok with making this change, click DELETE.
The default retention rules have a lower priority than custom retention rules.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Gmail data.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Google Drive data.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Google Groups data.
Retention rules and holds are ways to ensure that Vault will archive Google Workspace data.
Specify if Meet video recordings and Google Sites files will be affected by your Drive retention rules.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Google Chat data.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Google Meet data.
Create a custom retention rule to archive Google Sites data.
Place a hold on Gmail data.
Place a hold on Google Drive data.
Place a hold on Google Groups data.
© 2022 Workspace123. All rights reserved. | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
Think we could do something better or just want to tell us how happy you are with the site? We would love to hear from you – your feedback is more valuable than you can imagine.
Fill out this form, and we will get back to you.
Are you running into an issue with the site? Maybe you found a broken link, or something else is wrong?
Fill out this form to let us know, and we will address it as soon as possible.
Please make sure to be very specific and add as many details as possible.
Our goal is to run the number one site in the world for you to get help with and learn how to use Google Workspace. This can’t be so if there is any missing information.
If you believe we need to add something, fill out this form, and we will do our best to add any missing content as soon as possible.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Click here to see our Cookies Policy.
You can stay on top of news and updates in Google Workspace and Workspace123 and get special offers by subscribing to our newsletter.