About forthcoming data retention changes

Webex is removing the option to retain messaging data for an indefinite time period. At present, we do not have a default retention period. Which means that if you have not set a retention policy, Webex retains your user-generated content indefinitely.

This retention applies to new as well as historical data. For example, If the retention policy is set to 360 days and takes into effect from 31st Jan 2023, a meeting recording generated on or before 5th Feb 2022, gets deleted. Similarly, with the retention period set to 360 days, a meeting recording generated on 1st October 2022 is deleted by 26 September 2023.

By introducing a default retention period, we're helping you manage the lifecycle of your user-generated content, reduce your data footprint, and ensure you can meet compliance and regulatory standards.

This change applies to user-generated content for all enterprise Webex customers.

This change does not affect you if you already defined a retention policy. Your retention period stays the same.

Retention period changes and dates

Table 1. Webex data retention policy changes and dates for Pro Pack customers

Data type

Pro Pack?

Current default retention period

New default retention period

Date of change

Webex Space—Messages, files, whiteboards

Without Pro Pack

Indefinite

360 days

8th March 2023

With Pro Pack

Indefinite

1095 days

31st March 2023

Webex Meetings—Recordings, transcripts, saved in-meeting chats

Without Pro Pack

Indefinite

360 days

8thMarch 2023

With Pro Pack

Indefinite

1095 days

31st March 2023

The retention policy for in-meeting chats only applies to saved in-meeting chats. You can save in-meeting chats only if you're on the Webex Suite meeting platform.

The retention policy doesn’t cover the chats that occur in breakout sessions. You can use the Webex API to take offline copies of your chats.

New UI changes

We're progressively rolling out the new UI changes. This means that some organizations may still see the old UI and some may see the new UI in Control Hub.
1

Sign in to Control Hub.

2

Go to Management > Organization settings > Settings.

3

Scroll to the Retention policies section.

4

Define a Messaging retention policy by clicking Update the policy.

  1. Under Direct messages:

    • Choose the Default or set a Custom retention period.

  2. Under Group messages:

    • Choose the Default or set a Custom retention period.

  3. Click Save.

The minimum values are 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year. The maximum values are 360 days, 12 months, or 1 year. The values control how long Webex keeps user-generated messages, files, and whiteboards. You can set different or the same values for direct and group messages, respectively.

5

Define a Meetings retention policy by clicking Update the policy.

  1. Under Retention Policy:

    • Choose 360 days or set a Custom retention period.

  2. Under Deleted recording:

    • Choose Purge immediately or Follow the retention policy.

  3. Click Save.

The minimum value is 7 days, and the maximum value is 360 days. The value controls how long Webex keeps recordings, transcripts, and highlights from your meetings.

6

Define a Contact Center retention policy by clicking Update the policy.

  • Choose the Default or set a Custom retention period.

  1. Click Save.

The default value is 1095 days. The minimum value is 1 day, and the maximum value is 3600 days. The value controls how long Webex keeps Contact Center voice recordings.

Enabling AI features may limit access to voice transcripts, in addition to applying retention policies to Contact Center voice recordings.

What you should do to prepare for this change

If you don't do anything, we set your retention period to the new default on the date given above.

If you don't want to keep user-generated data, or you don't care about how we handle this data, you don't need to do anything. We'll stop keeping the data indefinitely; instead, we'll purge it after the new default retention period.

If you want to control your user-generated Webex content, these are your options:

  • Change your organization's retention period through Control Hub:

    Table 2. Retention period choices
    Data typeDo you have Pro Pack?MinimumMaximumDefault

    Webex Space—Messages, files, whiteboards

    		No1 day360 days360 days
    Yes1 day3600 days1095 days

    Webex Meetings—Recordings, transcripts, in-meeting chats

    		No7 days360 days360 days
    Yes7 days3600 days1095 days
  • Consider upgrading to Pro Pack if you want to retain data for longer than the new limits.
  • Consider using eDiscovery for managing data for compliance.
  • Consider integrating with your data archiving tools if you want to take user-generated Webex content to an "offline" copy.
  • Subscribe to our Data retention article to be notified when this change happens.
  • Contact your Cisco account representative if necessary.