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You set it in the Terms section while creating the request, as a fixed period or for as long as they stay your client, and the notice your client reads carries the same rule.

Every request carries its own retention rule, written into the notice your client reads before they upload anything, so it cannot be changed once the request is sent.

  1. 1 Open a new request and fill in the people, the items and the purpose.
  2. 2 In the Terms section, under Keep the documents for, choose 1 year, 2 years or 5 years. Choose As long as they're a client to keep the documents until you mark the relationship as ended in the client's folder.
  3. 3 For any other period, choose Other and enter a number of Days or Years. The longest period you can set is 10 years.
  4. 4 If a law requires you to keep the documents after that period ends, tick We must keep them beyond this period under law. This is the second stage of the rule.
  5. 5 Name the law under Under which law.
  6. 6 Enter the law's period under For how long after that (up to 10 years). Both fields are required once the box is ticked.
  7. 7 Choose Create request.

For a fixed period, the clock starts on the day your client's documents arrive. 15 days before it runs out, the request appears in your Retention queue, where you can ask the client to renew their consent, keep the documents on a stated basis, or delete them. Left untouched, the documents are deleted when their date arrives and the deletion is recorded.

A request with a law stage never appears in the queue. The law's period starts on its own when the first period ends, and the documents are deleted when it ends. For "as long as they're a client" there is no date until you mark the relationship as ended. The documents are then deleted in the next nightly run, or kept for the law's period from that date if you named a law. Neither kind opens a row in the queue.