Manage data retention policies for your team

With data retention, admins of Dropbox team accounts can create policies to help them meet compliance and regulatory requirements. There are two types of data retention policies—retention and disposition.

• Retention policies are based on the last activity of the file. With a retention policy, content will be retained until the policy ends, regardless of whether a team member deletes or permanently deletes it.
• Disposition policies are based on when a file was created or uploaded. With a disposition policy, content will be automatically deleted at the end of the policy and permanently deleted 31 days after the end of the policy. While team members can delete content at any time, admins can still download the content any time before it’s permanently deleted.

Notes:

• You can have up to 100 active data retention policies.
• If a file is permanently deleted and then a new file is created with the exact same name, only the new file will be retained.
• After the contents of a folder are permanently deleted after the end of a disposition policy, the empty folder and associated subfolders will still be visible in your Dropbox account.

How to create a data retention policy

To create a data retention policy:

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console.
3. Click Data governance.
4. Click Data retention.
5. Click New policy.
6. Fill out the name and details of the policy.
7. Choose a policy type.
8. Add a retention period or disposition time.
9. Click Add team folders to add the folders you’d like to include in the policy.
10. Click Create.
11. Click Create again to confirm.

You’ll receive an email within 24 hours confirming that the new policy is in place.

How to download content included in the data retention policy

To download the content of a data retention policy:

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console.
3. Click Data governance.
4. Click Data retention.
5. Click the “…” (ellipsis) next to the policy you’d like to export.
6. Click Download content.
7. Add a name and note to your download.
8. Click Prepare.

Notes: 

• You can only download the latest version of a retained file.
• You can only download the contents of an active data retention policy. Once a policy is deleted you can no longer download the contents of that policy.

How to create a data retention report

If you set up a disposition policy, you will receive an email report before any content is deleted. You can also manually create a report at any time.

To create a data retention report:

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console.
3. Click Data governance.
4. Click Data retention.
5. Click the “…” (ellipses) next to the policy you’d like to create a report for.
6. Click Create report. A report will automatically be saved to your “Dropbox Business Reports” folder.

How to edit a data retention policy

To edit a data retention policy:

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console.
3. Click Data governance.
4. Click Data retention.
5. Click the “…” (ellipses) next to the policy you’d like to edit.
6. Click Edit policy.
7. Edit the policy details you’d like to change.
8. Click Save, then click Save again in the window that appears.

How to delete a data retention policy

To delete a data retention policy:

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console.
3. Click Data governance.
4. Click Data retention.
5. Click the “…” (ellipses) next to the policy you’d like to delete.
6. Click Delete policy.
7. Click Delete in the window that appears.