Set the retention policy for your organization

Content older than the retention policy or content exceeding storage quotas is subject to deletion. This is important because when you keep information around a long time, you increase the chances of confidential information being accessible.

We recommend that you work with your legal counsel to determine the most appropriate retention period for your organization.

  • We are progressively rolling out Meetings retention policy for organizations that manage a single Meetings site.

    If you are unable to change your Recording Auto-Deletion Policy setting in Site Administration, then your policy setting has moved to Control Hub. See the procedure below to sign in to Control Hub and change your retention policy.

  • You can only set an organization-level retention policy for all your meeting sites. Contact Cisco support for assistance.

    If you have multiple Meeting sites, you can't set different retention policies for each Meetings site.

  • Webex Assistant is not available with Webex for Government, so we only support retention policy for Webex Meetings data (recordings and meetings metadata) for those organizations.

1

Sign in to your organization in Control Hub at https://admin.webex.com, and go to Organization Settings, and scroll to Retention.

2

Define a Webex Space Retention Policy by clicking Modify and then:

  1. Choose the Default or a Custom retention period for 1-1 Chat.

  2. Choose the Default or a Custom retention period for Group Chat.

  3. Click Save.

The minimum values are 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year. The maximum values are 3600 days, 120 months, or 10 years. The values control how long Webex keeps user-generated messages, files, and whiteboards. You can set different or the same values for 1-1 and group chats, respectively.

3

Define a Webex Meetings Retention Policy by clicking Settings and then:

Under Retention Policy:

  1. Choose the Default or a Custom retention period for meeting data.

The minimum value is 7 days, and the maximum value is 3600 days. The value controls how long Webex keeps recordings, transcripts, and highlights from your meetings.

Under Deleted recording:

  1. Choose Purged within 30 days or Follow the retention policy as set above.

  2. Click Save.

Control Hub | Webex Data retention FAQ
What are the upcoming data retention changes in Webex and how does this benefit the customer?

Webex is removing the option to retain messaging and meetings data for an indefinite time period.

This change helps you manage the lifecycle of your user-generated content, minimize your data footprint if it’s no longer required, and ensure that you can meet compliance and regulatory standards. See Data retention changes coming in 2023.

Which customers are affected by this change?

This change is applicable to all standard and Pro Pack customers. To check whether this change is applicable to your organization, navigate to the retention settings for your meeting and messages under Organization Settings in Control Hub. If the retention setting is available for your organization, then this change is applicable to your organization.

Who are standard pack customers? How do I find this out?

Standard Webex Customers are those customers who have purchased the base offerings of Webex that don’t include the Pro Pack license. The best way to check this is through Control Hub.

Is this change applicable for all sites – Site Administration managed sites and Control Hub managed sites?

This change is applicable to all organizations with meeting and messaging retention setting available in Organization settings in Control Hub. For meetings retention, the value set here will flow to all sites linked to or managed by Control Hub. If the retention policy has been set to indefinite in Control Hub, then the retention setting value for recordings, for all sites that are linked to Control Hub, is changed to 360 days. For Pro Pack customers, you can change this value up to 3600 days in Control Hub.

These changes are not applicable to standalone Site Administration managed sites. If there are sites whose retention setting is set through Webex Site Administration, then the retention setting in Site Administration will apply. Learn more about Control Hub and Site Administration-managed Webex sites.

Why can’t some customers see the meeting retention policy under Organization Settings?

The organization-wide meetings retention policy is applicable to every site linked or managed in Control Hub. Customers with a single site that is managed in Control Hub, can typically see this organization-wide retention setting. But customers with multiple meeting sites who want to have a different retention for every site typically don’t see the organization-wide retention setting as this setting applies the same retention policy for every site.

If customers are already managing the meetings retention policy for every site, do they have to move to Organization Settings?

Currently, customers managing the meetings retention through Webex Site Administration, with a different retention setting for every site, don’t need to move to Organization Settings in Control Hub. They can continue to manage their retention policy through Webex Site Administration.

Look out for Webex communications for further updates related to the retention policy for Webex Site Administration managed sites.

A customer has multiple meeting sites managed in Control Hub and has organization-wide retention settings. Now the customer must set the retention policy for each site. How can this be done?

Customers, with multiple meeting sites, who have already opted for the organization level retention management in Control Hub should prepare for the upcoming change by setting a retention value, depending on the type of pack they have subscribed.

If you want to set the retention policy at the site level, please contact your Customer Success Manager immediately. These requests are evaluated on a case by case basis.

What happens if customers don’t see the meeting retention button under Organization settings?

If customers don’t see the organization-wide retention setting under Organization settings in Control Hub, then this change does not impact them.

If customers have paid for unlimited meeting storage, will these customers be on an exempt list when the new data retention policies are enabled?

These customers are exempt from the new data retention policy changes. We'll do our best to create an exception for customers who have paid for unlimited storage, but we can’t guarantee that individual customers will be added to the exception list.

If your organization must be exempt, please contact your Webex Account Manager or Customer Success Manager before March 7, 2023.

Is this applicable to online sites?

No. This change isn’t applicable to online sites.

Is this applicable to Webex to Cisco BroadWorks and Wholesale Route to Market customers?

Webex for Cisco BroadWorks and Wholesale Route to Market customers are excluded from this change. For other customers, if they have access to meetings and messaging workloads where they can customize the retention policy, then these changes are applicable to them.

For standard customers, will recordings older than 360 days get deleted automatically on January 2023 or will the 360-day retention period start in January 2023, for all previous and new recordings? or , if I apply a setting that is shorter than the current retention period, does it automatically delete the recordings that are outside the new period set? or is it considered as a new rule that applies to future recordings?

This retention change applies to all recordings, new or old. Those created before or after the date of rollout. For instance, if the retention period has been set to 1 year, then recordings older than 1 year gets purged. This will also apply to new recordings.

If you don’t want this to happen, we recommend upgrading to the Pro Pack license which allows you to retain your organization’s data for more than 360 days and up to 3600 days.

What happens if a Pro Pack admin chooses the option Purged within 30 days?

Webex permanently removes all deleted recordings. This is applicable to users who are put on legal hold as well. For example, if a user under legal hold deletes a recording and it is subsequently purged, the recording is permanently deleted from Webex and cannot be retrieved by the compliance officer.

Does the retention policy apply to the entire org?

Yes. When it is set for Space Messaging, it applies to all spaces created by users of the org, messages sent and content that is shared in those spaces. Similarly, when it is set for meetings, it applies to all Meetings sites' recordings and information that is related to completed meetings.

What happens to the Space messages when they are deleted by end users?

Messages that are deleted by the end users are soft deletes. Even if a message is deleted by an end user, it exists in the system and is accessible by the compliance officer. It is permanently removed only after the retention period.

What happens to the Meetings recordings when they are deleted by end users?

Recordings that are deleted by the end users are soft deletes. Even if deleted by an end user, it exists in the system and is accessible by the compliance officer. It is permanently removed only after the retention period.

What type of content is purged?

For Spaces, all messages, attachments, whiteboard content, and events are purged.

For Meetings, all recordings and information that is related to completed meetings (meeting title, attendee list, start and end time, etc.) are purged.

Webex data is permanently purged from the production system and is not recoverable when purged as per customer’s retention policy.

How granular can the retention be for Webex Space content? What’s the minimum and maximum?

Retention is set in increments of 1 day. The minimum is 1 day and the maximum is indefinite. Keep in mind that short retention periods can negatively impact the user experience.

If your organization has a retention period, we purge all user-generated content that your organization owns in accordance with the retention policy. Purged content is not recoverable.

How granular can the retention be for Webex Meetings content? What’s the minimum and maximum?

For Webex Meetings, retention is set in increments of 1 day. The minimum is 7 days and maximum is indefinite.

How often does the purging service run?

The purging service runs constantly to identify if there is any data to be purged according to the retention policy.

How can I check a Space's retention policy?

Open the space that you want to check, click the "Space Information" gear icon next to the space name, and then select View space policy.

I have already enabled the recordings auto-deletion policy in Cisco Webex Site Administration for my meeting site, how is this new Control Hub organization setting different?

If your organization has one meeting site, your retention policy will be migrated from Webex Site Administration to Control Hub organization settings. After migration is complete, you must manage the retention policy in Control Hub and will not be allowed to change the retention policy in Site Admin.

If your organization has multiple meeting sites, you can continue to manage retention policy in Webex Site Administration. If you want to set Organization level retention policy for all your meeting sites, please contact Cisco support for assistance.

I enabled the recordings auto-deletion policy for my meetings site in Cisco Webex Site Administration, but now I cannot change it because the setting is disabled. How can I change the recordings auto-deletion policy?

If you are unable to change your Recording Auto-Deletion Policy setting in Site Administration, then your policy setting has moved to Control Hub. Sign in to Control Hub at https://admin.webex.com, and go to Organization Settings, and scroll to Retention to change the retention policy.

My Webex sites are not linked to Control Hub or managed in Control Hub. Can I use Control Hub to manage retention policy for Meetings?

No. Webex Meetings sites that are either managed in Control Hub, or linked to Control Hub, can use Control Hub organization settings to manage organization-wide meetings retention policy. For other Webex meeting sites, you must use Webex Site Administration to manage meeting site retention policy.

Is user data retained for an Inactive user?

Yes. User data is retained even if the user status is Inactive. If an Inactive user is reactivated, they will find their old data (Spaces and Meetings), but only if that data is still within your retention period.