Set a custom Data Retention policy – Help Center

Otter provides indispensable value through our custom data retention feature. In today's dynamic data landscape, having the ability to personalize data retention policies stands as a strategic need. Custom data retention control empowers organizations to finely tune and optimize their data management processes. From enhancing data security and compliance to efficiently streamlining operations, this specialized feature ensures tailored control and precision, enabling companies to navigate their data environment with confidence and effectiveness.

Plan: This feature is only available for the Enterprise plan.

Data Retention Overview

Organizations have full control over how long a conversation remains in the Workspace. Once an admin sets a custom duration, all conversations created by users in the Workspace will be automatically deleted once the duration has been met. Deleted conversations will not be accessible by any user in the Workspace.

Note: The owner of the conversation along with all shared collaborators and viewers (regardless if they are a member or admin of the Workspace), will no longer have access to the conversation after the retention period.

The data retention duration period is defined as the time between the creation of the conversation to when it meets the limit set. For example,

25 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace.
Conversation A was created on Nov 15th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
After 25 days have passed, Conversation A will be deleted from the Workspace on December 10th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation A after that period of time.

Setting a custom data retention period

Note: You must be an admin to set a custom data retention period for your Workspace. Please ensure the admin of the Workspace is reaching out to our team.

Admins can request to have a custom data retention period of days, months, or years. The minimum data retention duration must be 24 hours or more. To set a custom data retention policy, please contact your Otter account manager.

Provide your account manager with the X number of days, months, or years you would like to set for your Workspace’s data retention period.

Selecting conversation data for retention

Admins have the option to set a data retention period for the following,

Full conversation (all data in the conversation is deleted after the retention period)

Only conversation audio/video
Only conversation transcript

Separate data retention periods can be set for just conversation audio/video, just conversation transcripts, or both audio/video and transcripts. For example,

Setting the retention period for all conversations

25 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace.
Conversation A was created on Nov 15th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
After 25 days have passed, all Conversation A data will be deleted from the Workspace on December 10th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation A after that period of time.

Setting the retention period just for audio/video

25 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace for conversation audio/video.
Conversation B was created on Nov 15th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
After 25 days have passed, all Conversation B's audio/video data will be deleted from the Workspace on December 10th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation B's audio/video after that period of time.
The rest of Conversation B's data is still accessible (e.g., transcript, summary, action items, etc.) except for audio/video.

Setting the retention period just for the transcript

25 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace for conversation transcripts.
Conversation C was created on Nov 15th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
After 25 days have passed, all Conversation C's transcript data will be deleted from the Workspace on December 10th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation C's transcript after that period of time.
The rest of Conversation C's data is still accessible (e.g., transcript, summary, action items, etc.) except for the transcript.

Setting different retention periods for audio/video AND transcript

25 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace for conversation audio/video.
40 days is set as the data retention period for the Workspace for conversation transcript.
Conversation D was created on Nov 15th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
After 25 days have passed, all Conversation D's audio/video data will be deleted from the Workspace on December 10th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation D's audio/video after that period of time.
After 40 days have passed, all Conversation D's transcript data will be deleted from the Workspace on December 25th, 2025 at 10:00 am PST.
No user will be able to access Conversation D's audio/video AND transcript after that period of time.
The rest of Conversation D's data is still accessible (e.g., summary, action items, images, etc.) except for audio/video and transcript.

Note: If you have any questions regarding your specific workflow, contact your Otter account manager.

FAQs

What type of data is deleted?

All data associated with the conversation will be deleted if a retention period is set for the full conversation:

Transcript
Audio/Video
Summary*
Action Item(s)
Outline
Highlight(s)
Comment(s)
Image(s)
Insight(s)
Generated meeting template content within that conversation
Speaker tags within that conversation
Otter Chat history within that conversation

*cannot be regenerated if the transcript is deleted

Note: The list above may not be exhaustive or fully up-to-date. If new features are added to the conversation page that are not listed here, that data will also be deleted.

Can I set a retention period only for audio/video?

Yes.
You can set a retention period only for conversation audio/video data.
Refer to our selecting conversation data for retention section for more info, and contact your Otter account manager.

Can I set a retention period only for the transcript?

Yes.
You can set a retention period only for conversation transcript data.
Refer to our selecting conversation data for retention section for more info, and contact your Otter account manager.

Can I regenerate the summary if the transcript is deleted after the retention period?

No.
Once a conversation transcript has been deleted after the retention period, the summary cannot be regenerated by switching templates or manually regenerating it.
Regenerating the summary requires a transcript. Once the transcript has been deleted, the summary cannot be regenerated.

Can I set a retention period for everything but the audio/video and/or transcript?

No.
You can set a retention period for the full conversation (all data in the conversation is deleted after the retention period)
OR only conversation audio/video, only conversation transcript, or both audio/video and transcript.

Can the owner of the conversation access or view the deleted conversation?

No.
Owners of the conversation will no longer be able to access or view a deleted conversation.
No user including, members or admins, as well as collaborators or viewers, will be able to view, recover, or access deleted conversations.

Can Admins access deleted conversations?

No.
All conversations deleted due to the data retention policy, cannot be viewed, recovered, or accessed by any admins of the Workspace.
No user including, members or admins, as well as collaborators or viewers, will be able to view, recover, or access deleted conversations.

Can Admins view a list of conversations that have been deleted?

No.
Admins cannot view which conversations have been deleted.
All conversations deleted due to the data retention policy, cannot be viewed, recovered, or accessed by any admins of the Workspace.

Note: Deleted conversations will no longer be searchable on the Conversation Management page.

Will deleted conversations show up in the Trash folder?

No.
Deleted conversations will not show up in the Trash folder.

Need more help?

Warning: If the retention duration provided to our team was a mistake or incorrect, please contact our Otter Support Team immediately to avoid conversations being deleted.

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