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

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

Retain Google Sites websites for as long as you need to

  • By following the steps below, you can ensure that you will retain your organization’s Google Sites websites 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 Google Sites websites step-by-step with images

Step 1

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

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

Step 2

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

Click the drop-down menu under Service and choose Sites. This rule only applies when you make Sites retention separate from Drive retention in your retention settings, as shown here.

Click CONTINUE.

Step 4

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

Next, select the Scope of your retention rule. You can apply it to data in All shared drives, Specific shared drives, or Organizational units.

Step 5

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

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.

Step 6

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

After selecting an OU, you can still choose to Include items from shared drives – this refers to files owned by users in the OU you specified. Click CONTINUE.

Step 7

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

Choose how long to retain Google Sites websites

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.

You can also select the Retention period option, which allows you to retain data for a specific number of days and then delete it automatically. 

Type the number of days in the Days field. Choose the start of the expiration period by clicking the Start of retention period setting.

At the bottom, specify the Action after expiration:

Purge only permanently deleted sites will remove only sites removed from users’ Drive by being sent to Trash and then clearing the Trash.

Purge all sites, including sites that aren’t permanently deleted from Drive will remove all sites from users’ accounts.

Click CREATE.

Step 8

How To Set Up A Custom Retention Rule For Google Sites 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.

Click ACCEPT to create the custom retention rule.

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