# Choose the organisation retention policy

Set declared retention values and verify the product still owns eligibility and removal.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/accounts/retention-policy

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: owner

An active, accepted organisation administrator changes this policy after password confirmation and a fresh two-factor check. Product Owner alone does not grant this organisation authority. Accounts records the settings; each product decides when its records are finished and how removal is applied.

## Review before changing a period

Open the organisation's **Manage employees and access** page, then **Retention policy**. Confirm the organisation and product headings. Only enabled products with declared retention settings appear. A page with no settings is not an instruction to choose another product's retention period.

Read each setting's label, unit, lower and upper bounds and default. Units can be hours, days or months. There is no universal duration for all SmartFACT records. Agree the intended operational records policy with the people responsible for that product before shortening a period.

Check whether important records or files need to be retained through the product's private export workflow first. A longer future setting does not reconstruct content already removed. An exported report and the product's active operational records have different purposes.

## Enter and save

For each intended change, enter a whole number in the displayed unit and within the displayed bounds. The control accepts up to six digits. A blank value restores that setting's declared default; it does not mean unlimited retention or immediate removal.

Choose **Save retention policy**. Read any field error and correct that setting rather than changing a different product to get the form accepted. Only listed products and declared settings are valid.

After saving, check the displayed chosen/default state and product revision. A changed product policy receives a new revision; a save with no change reports that nothing changed. Keep the product, revision and effective values with the team's records policy.

## Check application in the product

Products obtain the policy on their next read. Saving Accounts settings is not evidence that a particular private file has already been removed, nor permission to override a product's current hold or eligibility rules. Inspect that product's history, retention or expiry page and follow any separate reviewed action it requires.

LabelRules, for example, has its own [reviewed history expiry](/manuals/labels/history-retention). That is distinct from selecting the organisation's declared retention values here. Do not infer one product's removal procedure from another's controls.

If the expected setting is missing, access is refused or a product appears to use an older revision, retain the organisation, product, revision and current message. Ask the administrator or support to check configuration and policy delivery. Do not repeatedly shorten periods or edit identities to force a result.