# Set up document retention policies

Make documents of a type delete themselves on schedule after their retention period — set the period and the destruction schedule, exempt individual documents, and control who's allowed to override.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: catalog-administrator · Time: 15 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-04

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-up-document-retention-policies

**At the end of this guide, documents of one type will be deleted automatically once their retention period ends, on a destruction schedule you chose — with a way to exempt individual documents and a permission that controls exactly who may do that.**

> **WARNING:** A retention policy **deletes documents**. Before enabling one, confirm the period with whoever owns your records policy, and make sure your backups are real — the destruction process will not ask twice.

## Step 1: Open the document type's retention policy

1. Go to **Administration** > **Catalogs & Document Types**. In the selectors at the top, pick the **Catalog**, then the **Document Type**.

2. Click the **Retention Policy** tile ("Configure the length of time documents will be retained in the catalog").

3. Turn on **Enabled**.

*[Screenshot: Turning on Enabled reveals both panels, and the blue line under the period restates the consequence in plain words: "Documents will be deleted after: 7 Years." Read it back against your records policy before saving.]*

## Step 2: Set how long documents are kept

Under **"Length of time documents of this document type will be retained"**:

1. Enter the **Period Length** and pick the **Period Unit** — **Years**, **Quarters**, **Months**, **Weeks**, or **Days**.

**What you should see:** the page states the outcome plainly, for example `Documents will be deleted after: 7 Years`. Read that line back against your records policy before moving on.

## Step 3: Schedule the destruction process

Under **"The document destruction process will occur"**:

1. Pick the **Frequency** — **Daily**, **Weekly**, **Monthly**, **Quarterly**, or **Yearly**.

2. For anything other than daily, set **on day** (which day of the week, month, quarter, or year), then set **starting at** (the hour).

3. Click **Save**.

**What you should see:** a summary such as `Processing will run monthly on day 1 at 2 AM.` and the toast `Retention policy saved successfully`.

> **NOTE:** The schedule controls when deletions are *processed*, not when documents expire. A document past its period simply waits for the next scheduled run — so a yearly schedule means documents can outlive their period by up to a year.

## Step 4: Exempt or adjust individual documents

Some documents need to outlive their type's policy — a contract under dispute, a record someone asked you to hold.

1. Find the document (search, Folder Browser, or a queue) and choose **Set Retention Policy** from its action menu.

2. In the dialog choose one:
   - **Retain for** — a different period for this one document
   - **Retain Indefinitely** — never auto-delete this document
   - **Remove Policy** — drop this document's individual override

3. Click **Set**.

> **IMPORTANT:** This power is permission-gated. Back on **Catalogs & Document Types**, the **Membership & Permissions** tile opens the permission grid where **Allow Retention Overrides** controls who can set per-document retention. Grant it deliberately — an override is exactly the kind of thing an auditor asks about, and each one records the overriding user.

If the dialog blocks you, it says why: retention is disabled for the type, the document is checked out, or you lack the permission.

## Step 5: Review the exceptions

Open **Retention Policies** in the sidebar (visible only to users with access). It lists every document whose retention was overridden — the policy, time remaining, and **Overriding User** — with documents shown as **Pending Removal** highlighted in red.

Make reviewing this list part of your records routine: it's the complete inventory of "documents that don't follow the rule."

## Getting a document back

Treat deletion by retention as final. There is no undelete button — recovering anything after the destruction process runs is an administrator-level operation, and only if your organization's safeguards were in place before the deletion. Set the period conservatively rather than counting on recovery.

## Still unsure about a setting?

Contact support with: the catalog and document type, the exact period and schedule you configured, and what you expected versus what happened — a screenshot of the Retention Policy page answers most of it in one image.

## What's next

- [Backup, export, or audit trail? Getting data out of Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/backup-export-or-audit-trail)
- [Delete a catalog, document type, or workflow](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/delete-a-catalog-document-type-or-workflow)