As part of your organization's information governance plan, you can control how long messages in Groups are retained. Use retention rules to set how long to keep messages and when to delete them, if ever.
To keep data that matches specific conditions for a set time, create a custom retention rule. To keep all service data for all licensed accounts for a set time, create a default retention rule.
- Important information about Groups and retention
- Set a custom retention rule for Groups
- Set the default retention rule for Groups
Important information about Groups and retention
Before you set retention rules, we strongly recommend you read about how retention works and review the Google Groups messages supported in Vault.
WARNING: An improperly configured retention rule can allow Groups to immediately and irreversibly purge messages. Use caution when you create or change retention rules. We recommend that you test new rules on a small set of accounts before you apply the rules to your entire organization.
What data can be retained
Data that is retained:
- Messages and their attachments in groups sent when conversation history is turned on
Data that is not retained:
- Messages in groups sent when conversation history is turned off
- Messages waiting for approval in moderated groups
- Linked files
- Messages in deleted groups
When a group is deleted, messages in the group are also deleted. Messages in Groups are deleted even when the deleted group was subject to a hold or retention rule. However, messages in Gmail that accounts receive through a subscription to a group aren't deleted and are subject to Gmail retention rules and holds.
Set a custom retention rule for Groups
- Sign in to vault.google.com.
- Click Retention
Custom Rules
- For the service, select Groups and then click Continue.
- Choose which groups the rule applies to:
- Specific groups—Enter the email addresses of one or more groups.
- All Groups—Apply the rule to all groups in your organization.
- Click Continue.
- (Optional) Choose the conditions that must be met for messages to be covered by this rule:
- Enter Date sent values. If you specify only a start date, the rule applies to all messages sent after that date. If you specify only an end date, the rule applies to all messages sent before that date.
- Enter any terms that messages must match. You can use all supported search operators except wildcards (*).
- Choose how long to keep messages:
- To permanently retain messages covered by this rule, choose Indefinitely.
- To discard messages after a set time, choose Retention period and enter the number of days, from 1 to 36,500.
- If you set a retention period, choose what to do with messages when the retention period ends:
- To purge only messages that are already deleted, choose the first option.
- To purge all messages, including messages that aren't deleted, choose the second option.
Warning: When you submit a new rule, Vault allows Groups to immediately purge messages that exceed the retention period. This purged data can include data that users expect to keep. Don't proceed to the next step until you’re sure the rule is configured correctly. - Click Create. If you set a retention period, check the confirmation box and click Accept.
Set the default retention rule for Groups
The default retention rule applies to messages in Groups that aren't covered by a custom rule or a hold.
- Sign in to vault.google.com.
- Click Retention. The list of default rules opens.
- Click Groups
.
- Choose how long to keep messages:
- To permanently retain messages covered by this rule, select Indefinitely.
- To discard messages after a set time, select Retention period and enter the number of days, from 1 to 36,500.
- If you set a retention period, choose what to do with messages when the retention period ends:
- To purge only messages that are already deleted, choose the first option.
- To purge all messages, including messages that aren't deleted, choose the second option.
Warning: When you submit a new rule, Vault allows Groups to immediately purge messages that exceed the retention period. This purged data can include data that users expect to keep. Don't proceed to the next step until you’re sure the rule is configured correctly. - Click Save. Vault asks you to confirm you understand the rule's effects. Check the boxes and click Accept to save the rule.