---
title: "Manage Document Retention Policies"
slug: "manage-document-retention-policies-1"
description: "This page describes how to set policies that govern when a document will be automatically deleted from the Keep archive. "
tags: ["Administration", "Document retention", "Keep"]
updated: 2026-06-29T15:52:21Z
published: 2026-06-29T15:52:21Z
canonical: "kb.lasernetgroup.com/manage-document-retention-policies-1"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.lasernetgroup.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage Document Retention Policies

The **Document Retention** page provides the ability to set policies that govern when a document will be automatically deleted from the archive. This is often a regulatory requirement in particular industries; this feature is designed to help you stay compliant.

Retention policies can be applied on a per-document basis (based on the value of a specified document key), providing complete control over the date a document is deleted. If preferred, policies can be applied on a per-document-definition basis, meaning a document is deleted based on the date it was created.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> Document deletion occurs daily at 00:00 (midnight according to the Keep server's local time). Any expired documents will be deleted at that time.

## Navigate to the Document Retention Page

To access the **Document Retention** page, click **Archive Structure** in the admin menu, then select **Retention Policies**.

![The Retention Policies menu item in the Keep admin menu.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/retention policies menu item.png)

## Find Your Way Around the Document Retention Page

On the **Configuration** tab, the page contains notification configuration (on the left). It presents a list of retention policies (on the right) that contains one tile for each document definition. Click a retention policy to modify it.

![The Document Retention page of Keep.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/document retention details.png)

## Configure Retention Policies

To modify the retention policy for a document definition, click its tile.

![A selected retention policy on the Document Retention page with the three policy options displayed in a right-side panel.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/document retention policy options(1).png)

### Retention Policy Options

Select one of the following options to control how the retention of documents (of that document definition) is managed.

If the option has any settings, enter appropriate values.

To save your changes, click **Confirm** (at the lower-right corner of the panel).

#### None

Documents are not automatically deleted and are retained in the archive indefinitely.

This option has no settings.

#### Fixed Time Period

Delete documents after they reach a specified age (in days). A document’s **Document created** date is the starting date for the calculation.

Settings:

- **Documents are deleted after:** Specify the period in days.

#### Per-document

Specify a date key that (for each document) contains an expiry date. Each document specifies its own deletion date in this key. This option contains additional fallback settings to specify retention behavior for documents that do not provide a value for this date key.

Settings:

- **Document key holding the deletion date:** Select the date key that contains the document expiry date. This list contains date keys that are bound to the relevant document definition.
- **Empty key fallback behaviour:** Select which option (**Fixed time period** or **Keep indefinitely**) is used for documents that do not provide a value for that date key.
- **If the key is empty, delete after:** If you selected **Fixed time period** for **Empty key fallback behaviour**, specify the time period. See **Documents are deleted after** for the **Fixed Time Period** option (above)**.**

### Reset Changes

To discard any changes you have made to a retention policy since it was last saved, click the menu button (three vertical dots) on the policy’s tile, and then click **Reset Changes**.

![The Reset Changes menu item for a document definition's retention policy.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/reset changes to policy.png)

## Deletion Event Information

When a retention policy runs, Keep tracks how successful it was. It is possible for Keep to successfully delete some documents while being unable to delete others. You can check the retention report table to review the success of a retention policy run. Optionally, you can configure email notifications.

### Retention Report Table

To access the retention report, click the **Reports** tab.

![The table on the Reports tab of the Document Retention page with a single policy run row in it.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/document retention report table.png)

Each table row corresponds to a retention policy run. The **Document Definition** and **Policy Type** columns together describe which policy ran. The **Policy Execution Date** describes when it ran. The **Status** describes whether the policy run was a **Success**, or whether it **Completed With Errors** or **Aborted with Errors**.

The number of successfully deleted documents is displayed in the **Deleted Documents** column.

The number of documents that Keep could not delete is displayed in the **Documents with Errors** column. Click the **View Errors** (eye) icon in that column to see a list of the errors that occurred and the number of documents that each error affected.

![A red rectangle around the View Errors icon for a policy run row in the report table.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/view errors icon.png)

### Email Notifications

Keep can generate email notifications when document deletion events occur. You can define which email addresses notifications are sent to, and specify the scenarios in which you want Keep to send emails.

![The email notification configuration options.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/configure notifications.png)

To configure the email notifications, follow these steps:

1. In the **Notifications** area, enter one or more email addresses into the **Email Recipients** box.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> If entering multiple email addresses, separate each address with a comma. For example: `john.smith@example.com,mollie.adams@example.com`
2. Select which scenarios will trigger an email notification:
  - **Success:** If selected, a notification will be sent after the retention process is successfully completed.
  - **Partial failure:** If selected, a notification will be sent if errors occurred.
  - **Failed:** If selected, a notification will be sent if the retention process aborts due to excessive errors.
3. Click **Save Changes** (in the upper-right corner of the page).

The notification emails provide a summary of the retention policy run for each retention policy defined. This report includes the number of documents removed and any errors that occurred. For details on how to review errors for resolution purposes, see [Logging](/v1/docs/manage-document-retention-policies-1#logging).

## Logging

Notification emails summarise the result of applying a policy. The information includes any documents that have not successfully been deleted due to an error.

The full detail is recorded in dedicated logs, which capture the time, document definition, document ID, document revision, and a full error trace. The logs rotate on a daily basis; in other words, once for every run of the retention policies.

These logs are in the following location: `<standard Keep log directory>\retention-policies\policy-executions.log`. Appropriately substitute `<standard Keep log directory>`.

### Default Log Locations

****Lasernet Keep 11.1 and Later****

`C:\Program Files\Lasernet\Lasernet Keep\Server_11.<minor version> - <node name>\wildfly-<version number>.Final\standalone\log\retention-policies\policy-executions.log`

****Lasernet Keep 11.0****

`C:\Program Files\Formpipe Software\Lasernet Keep\Server_11.0 - <node name>\wildfly-<version number>.Final\standalone\log\retention-policies\policy-executions.log`