A Complete Guide to Google Chat Retention

Default Chat retention in Google Workspace

• Retain organizational data indefinitely or for a certain time period 

• Automatically delete organizational data after a certain time 

• Hold, search, and export organizational data for eDiscovery 

Types of retention for Chat messages using Vault

• Default retention rules 

• Custom retention rules 

What happens when a Chat message covered by a retention rule gets deleted?

• To retain, hold, search, and export direct messages (DMs), group messages, and unthreaded spaces chat history must be turned on 

• Files stored in Drive shared as a link through Chat are not retained in Chat retention. 

• Files that are directly attached to a Chat message are included in Chat retention.  

• Messages to and from external users are subjected to your organization's retention rules and holds. 

• If users in your organization participate in group messages and spaces owned by another organization, those messages aren’t available to your organization through Vault for retention, holds, search, or export. 

• Retention periods depend on who the participant is.  

  Direct message (DMs): When participants are in the same organization but covered by different retention rules, one participant might be able to access a DM while the other can’t depending upon their respective retention period. 

  DMs with external users: When participants belong to different organizations, DMs are retained according to each organization’s retention rules. 

  Chat spaces: When you set a default retention rule or create a custom retention rule for Chat, Vault can retain messages only in spaces that have history turned on.  

  External users in Chat spaces: When participants belong to different organizations, the conversation is retained according to the rules of the organization of the space's creator. If users in your organization participate in spaces owned by another organization, those messages aren’t available to Vault for retention, holds, search, or export.         

How to safeguard Chat messages using retention rules in Google Vault?

• Sign in to Google Vault 

• Click Retention > Custom Rules > Create 

• Select Chat and then click Continue. 

• Choose an entity: 

  To retain DMs and group conversations that were sent or received by accounts in an organizational unit, select Organizational unit. Click the organizational unit field and, in the dialog that opens, click the organizational unit or to retain messages in all spaces in your organization, select All Chat spaces. The rule doesn't apply to direct messages or some group messages. 

• Choose how long to keep messages: 

  To permanently retain messages covered by this rule, choose Indefinitely or to discard messages after a set time, choose Retention period and enter the number of days, from 1 to 36,500. 

• Click Create.  

• Confirm the settings. 

Create a default retention rule for Chat message

• Sign in to Google Vault. 

• Click Retention. The list of default rules opens. 

• Click Chat. 

• Define how long you want to keep messages. 

• Click Save.  

• Confirm the settings and click Accept to save the rule. 

How to use eDiscovery to safeguard Chat messages?

What happens when a Chat message on hold is deleted?

Are Google Vault retention and eDiscovery hold ideal data backup solutions?

Why is Google Vault not the ideal Google Chat backup solution?

• User deletions: Once a user is deleted from your Google Workspace account, all the Chat messages associated with the user account also gets deleted even if it was on hold or covered by a retention policy.   

• Absence of restore options: Chat messages that are preserved though Google Vault (hold or retention policies) can only be exported and not directly restored back into your account. 

• Google outages: Unexpected Google outages can result in data being inaccessible for hours. With Vault being a Google service, will not be of much use during outages. 

• Ransomware attacks: If your account is locked by a ransomware, the data retained and held in Google Vault will also be affected.