Starting today, we are changing the way Google Apps Vault admins set up new retention rules in Google Apps Vault. This change will not impact any current retention settings—existing rules will continue to retain and delete messages according to their original configuration. Going forward, admins will be prompted to select one of the following options when setting up a new rule:- Expunge the message, but only if it had been deleted during the coverage period - If an admin selects this option, the rule will only affect messages that have been deleted by individual employees. This is the default option for new rules and is equivalent to adding label:^deleted to a custom retention rule.
- Expunge the message, EVEN IF it is presently in a user's mailbox - If an admin selects this option, the rule will apply to all messages—except those that meet any custom rules or holds the admin specifies. If an admin opens an existing custom retention rule that uses label:^deleted, it will have this option selected. The custom rule, however, will continue to work according to its original configuration and override that option, and only deleted messages will be affected.
Remember—Vault is fully integrated with Gmail, and there is no separate archive. If an admin chooses the second option above, it means that they want the rule to apply to all messages, whether employees have marked the messages for deletion or not. This could potentially delete messages that employees expect to keep. For example, if an admin sets a default retention rule to retain messages for 365 days and selects the option to apply to all messages—and there are no custom rules or holds in place—Vault will delete every message in that admin’s domain that is older than one year.
Setting up the retention policies that your organization needs can be complicated, so we've put together this article to help.
Launch Details [learn more]Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release
Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)
Impact:
Admins only
Action:
Admin action suggested
More Information
Help Center
Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
