What deletion schedules do

A deletion schedule removes data of a given type once it reaches a given age, and then keeps doing it without anybody deciding again.

A deletion schedule removes data of a given type once it reaches a given age, and then keeps doing it without anybody deciding again. Tickets, attachments, end users, custom object records and AI agent conversations each have their own. You find them in Admin Center > Account > Security > Deletion schedules.

The limit that surprises people

A ticket schedule reaches archived tickets only, and a ticket is archived once it has been closed for more than 120 days. So a schedule cannot remove anything younger than that, no matter what period you set, and somebody who configures one and checks the next morning will conclude it is broken.

The one-active-at-a-time limit is the other planning constraint. You can prepare up to ten and only run one, unless you have the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on, which lets ten run at once.

Why a schedule is worth having

A retention policy nobody enforces is a document. A schedule is the policy happening, without depending on somebody remembering.

Why it is also the risk

It runs whether or not the period was right. A schedule with a wider scope than intended removes a great deal, efficiently, and deleted archived tickets cannot be restored. Nothing asks whether you are sure after the first time.

Deletion is not redaction

Redaction removes information from a ticket and keeps the ticket. Deletion removes the record entirely, including from your reporting. For a data subject request, redaction is usually right. For retention, deletion is what the policy means.

The two also interfere, in the direction nobody expects. A schedule counts from the ticket's last change, not from the day it closed, so a ticket that was modified inside the period is skipped. Redacting a ticket is a modification. Handle a privacy request by redacting, and that same ticket quietly falls outside the retention schedule and stays.

It affects your history

Deleted tickets leave Explore. A schedule removing everything older than a year ends year-on-year comparison, and that is discovered later, by somebody building a report. Decide what aggregate history you need before removing the detail.

Start with attachments

Most storage, most risk, least reporting value. It is the schedule with the best ratio of benefit to regret.

See also

• Creating a ticket deletion schedule
• Creating an attachment deletion schedule
• Setting data retention
• Creating deletion schedules for AI agent conversations