Data Retention Policy

Retention vs Access

Retention and access refer to different things when talking about data.

For example, a customer can choose to store their data for 7 years while keeping the standard 45-day access window. Dialpad securely retains the recordings and transcripts, but after 45 days, they won’t be accessible through the Dialpad Admin Portal.

Tip

To keep your recordings and transcripts beyond your access window, be sure to download and back them up.
Essential and Advanced users have a 45-day access window, while Premium users can access their data for up to a year.
Users on any of these plans can extend access by purchasing a longer retention period.

Retention policy targets

Retention policies are enacted via targets, but they apply to data (interactions). This data is created by interactions - calls, messages, and meetings — therefore a single user may generate data in the context of different targets.

For example, if you make a call using a department line that has a data retention policy applied, the data generated from your call is governed by that policy. Calls you make using your personal line will not be governed by that policy.

Retention policies can be set at these targets:

Note

If a policy is set at the office level, it will automatically be inherited by all Contact Centers, Coaching Teams, Departments, and users within the office.

Policies can then be removed or edited for individual Contact Centers, Departments, Coaching Teams, and users.

Set a Retention policy - Office level

To set your retention policy, first go to your Admin Settings.

1. Select Office > Retention Policy

2. Select the Set Retention Policy
   

3. Select the desired policy and enter the number of days you’d like the policy to apply to

4. Select Save policy > Set policy

Tip

Remember, if a retention policy is applied at the Office level, it’s automatically applied to your Contact Center and remains applicable until you manually change it.

Note

You can choose any retention period in 1-day increments, with the shortest being 1 day.

A retention period is based on the age of the data when the policy is set, not when it takes effect. For example, if you choose a 365-day retention policy, any data older than one year from today will be affected.

Set a Retention policy - Department

To set the retention policy for your Department, go to your Admin Settings.

1. Select the desired Department

2. Navigate to Advanced Settings > Retention Policy

3. Select Set Retention Policy or Update Retention Policy
   

4. Select the desired policy and enter the number of days you’d like the policy to apply to

5. Select Save policy > Set policy

Tip

Remember, if a retention policy is applied at the Office level, it’s automatically applied to your Department and is applicable until you manually change it.

Set a Retention policy - User

To set a retention policy for a user, go to your Admin Settings.

1. Navigate to Office > Users

2. Choose the user whose policy is to be updated and select Options

3. Select Admin > Set retention policies
   

4. Select Set Retention Policy

5. Select the desired policy and enter the number of days you’d like the policy to apply to

6. Select Save policy > Set policy

Each time a retention policy is changed, Company Admins receive an email notification outlining the specifics of the update.

Affected data

Let's look at the three different retention policies Dialpad offers.

Cleanup and archive

Cleans up the user view by masking data from search results, but doesn’t delete any data. Data is still available to administrators and for analytics reporting.

Archiving is useful for high-volume, analytics-heavy businesses where managers need to keep data available for metrics and AI analytics, and end-users don’t need indefinite access to call data. Users can see archived data in their Conversation History.

Remove content

Deletes the content associated with user activity, such as call recordings, voicemails, messages, and AI transcripts.

This means that this data will be completely purged from your environment as well as Dialpad’s system. It’s not retrievable once removed.

Removing content doesn’t remove the listing for entry for the call itself. Nor does it remove the name or phone number of the caller or the called party. Names and phone numbers are personal information, but they aren’t “content” so removing content doesn’t affect them.

The data types affected by the Remove Content setting are not currently customizable. In other words, it can’t be set to delete audio but not transcripts, or recordings, but not voicemails. Currently, Remove Content means all content.

Remove content and PII (personally identifiable information)

Removes all PII (personally identifiable information) from all entries that associate the content with the user. This setting does everything that Remove Content does and then goes a step further: it not only removes what was said, such as call recordings, transcripts, or messages that might have been generated, but it also removes personal information from “metadata” about the call. Specifically, it removes from the call history all data that is personally identifiable:

• External party name and number

• Call participant IDs

• Routing data

• All content (see Remove Content above)

Summary of retention policy options available

Keep in mind that, if there is more than one retention policy set on a given Dialpad user group (such as an Office, Department, Contact Center, or Coaching Team), they must be set to the same period.

Note

For users with a Dialpad and Dialpad Meetings account, your chosen Dialpad retention policy is automatically applied to Dialpad Meetings. However, standalone Dialpad Meetings customers need to contact Customer Care to apply a data retention policy.

Retroactive cleanup

Retroactive cleanup allows admins to apply a newly updated, stricter retention policy to all existing data that falls within its scope. This one-time action ensures that older data is cleaned up immediately in accordance with the new rules, rather than waiting for the policy to apply only to future data.

The retroactive cleanup is an opt-in feature; it’s not automatic. It must be explicitly selected when updating the policy. This runs in the background and may take several hours to fully process all affected data, depending on the volume.

Retroactive cleanup is only available when updating a policy from:

• Cleanup and Archive to Remove Content

• Cleanup and Archive to Remove Content and PII

To enable retroactive cleanup, go to your Dialpad Admin Settings.

1. Select your desired Office/Department/Contact Center

2. Navigate to and select Advanced Settings

3. Go to your Retention Policy and select Update Retention Policy

4. Select the desired Retention Policy option

5. Select Save Policy

6. In the confirmation window, select the Apply this policy to existing data immediately checkbox

   

7. Select Apply Policy

   Important Note

   Once confirmed, the retroactive cleanup is irreversible. All data within the scope of the updated policy will be permanently deleted and cannot be undone.

Limitations

The option is not available when updating from Remove Content to Remove Content and PII.

If your policy is already set to Remove Content and you update it to Remove Content and PII, the retroactive option will not be available because the content (recordings, transcripts, messages) has already been deleted. The remaining PII on call metadata (caller identity, phone numbers) requires a different process, and you will need to contact Customer Support for assistance.

For text messages, faxes, and voicemails, Remove Content already removes all PII, so switching from Remove Content to Remove Content and PII only affects call records.

For office-level policy changes, retroactive cleanup is available only if the office includes 30 or fewer entities (which combine users, departments, contact centers, and coaching teams). If the office exceeds this limit, the option is disabled, and you’ll need to contact Dialpad for support.

Remove Retention policy

Retention policies can be removed at any time.

To remove a retention policy, go to your Admin Settings.

1. Navigate to Office > Retention Policy

2. Select Remove Retention Policy
   

When removing a retention policy from a Contact Center or Department there are two options:

1. To inherit the office’s current retention policy (if a policy is applied at the office level)

2. To remove all retention policies

When an office-wide policy is removed, it is also removed from all entities within the office that are inheriting that policy.

Note

If an inherited policy is removed from a target, the target will no longer inherit the policy of higher-order targets, even if updated or added later.

Frequently asked questions

Can a retention policy be set at the company level?

No. However, all subsequently created Offices start with the same policy that’s been applied to your primary Office, so there’s no need to manually apply an additional policy when creating new offices.

I’m an Office Admin, can I set a retention policy for my office?

No, only Company Admins are able to set retention policies.

Are agent screen recordings included in retention policies?

No. Screen captures will be retained by default for one year and then deleted.

How long will it take to anonymize data?

That depends on how much data we are trying to anonymize. If there’s a large amount of data to be processed, removal of content (or deletion) could take several days, even weeks.

Once a user has been anonymized, Dialpad can’t access, export, or restore its associated data or records.

What about Dialpad Meetings?

Your chosen Dialpad retention policy is automatically applied to Dialpad Meetings. However, standalone Dialpad Meetings customers need to contact Customer Care to apply a data retention policy.

Can I access information from deleted users?

When a user is deleted, their data can be accessed for 72 hours. After 72 hours, the user's data is permanently deleted, and all records associated with that user will be anonymized.

Learn more about analytics for deleted users in this Help Center article.

With the retention policy “remove content and personally identifiable information” set, will personally identifiable information be retained in Dialpad changelogs?

Yes, user PII, such as user name, may be retained in Dialpad’s internal changelogs for later diagnostic purposes.

When I update my retention policy, will it apply to existing data?

By default, retention policy changes only apply to future data. However, when updating to a stricter policy (from Cleanup and Archive to Remove Content or Remove Content and PII), you will be given the option to retroactively apply the new policy to existing data. This is an opt-in action during the policy update flow. Note that retroactive cleanup is not available when changing from Remove Content to Remove Content and PII — contact Dialpad Customer Care for assistance with that transition.

Why can't I apply retroactive cleanup at the office level?

If your office has more than 30 sub-targets (users, departments, contact centers, coaching teams combined), the self-serve retroactive cleanup option is not available at the office level due to processing constraints. Please contact Dialpad Customer Care, who can assist with the retroactive cleanup for larger offices.

How long does retroactive cleanup take?

Processing time depends on the amount of data. For smaller targets, it may complete within minutes. For larger datasets, it could take several hours. The cleanup runs in the background — you can continue using Dialpad as normal while it processes.