How to Set up a Custom Retention Rule for Groups Data in Google Vault

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

Retain Google Workspace groups data for as long as you need to

  • By following the steps below, you can ensure that you will retain your organization’s groups data for as long as you need to, regardless of any circumstances.

The priority of custom retention rules

  • Custom retention rules in Google Vault will always override default retention rules because they have higher priority.
  • However, they have lower priority than holds.

How to set up a Google Vault retention rule for Groups emails step-by-step with images

Step 1

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 1

To create a custom retention rule for Groups data, open Vault at https://vault.google.com and click Retention.

Step 2

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 2

Select the CUSTOM RULES tab on top and then click the Create button.

Step 3

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 3

Click the drop-down menu under Service and choose Groups. Click CONTINUE.

Step 4

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 4

Next, select the Scope of your retention rule. You can apply it to All groups in your account or Specific groups only.

Step 5

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 5

If you select the Specific groups option, enter the email addresses below, separated by commas. Then click CONTINUE.

Step 6

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 6

Next, you get to specify the date range and your conditions for the retention in the Terms field.

All Group posts within the time frame you select will have the retention rule applied to them.

You can use the following search operators in the Terms field to narrow down the rule’s scope: https://support.google.com/vault/answer/2474474. 

(Our article on this is coming soon!)

If you leave it blank, the rule will be applied to all posts – both sent and received.

For example, if you only want to apply the rule to posts to a specific group, you can type to:group@domain.com in the Terms field.

Click CONTINUE.

Step 7

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 7

Choose how long to retain Groups emails

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 data will be stored in Vault as long as you have Vault and the groups still exist in your account. Note that if you delete a group, this also deletes its data from Vault. Make sure to search and export data before deleting groups, 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 deleted messages means that after the retention period passes, all messages that have been deleted will be purged from Vault.

Purge messages from Groups conversations and deleted messages means that all posts will be purged from Groups and Vault after the retention period passes.

Click CREATE.

Step 8

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 8

A brief description of the rule appears. 

Check the box to confirm that you understand that holds still apply and have a higher priority than this custom retention rule.

Also, when you delete a group, messages will be deleted even if you have a retention rule applied.

Additionally, depending on how you set it up, the rule might delete messages from Groups, and you may not be able to recover them later.

Click ACCEPT to create the custom retention rule.

Step 9

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 9

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.

Step 10

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Groups Data In Google Vault - Step 10

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.

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