Document Retention & Purge
Document Retention & Purge lets administrators automatically remove completed-workflow documents from emSigner after a defined retention period. Before permanent deletion, the document owner is given a grace window to download a copy.
This setting is available only to administrators. Internal Users do not have access to this configuration. Once an administrator configures and saves a purge policy, it applies tenant-wide — affecting all users under that administrator's account.
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Settings > Storage & Data > Document Retention & Purge
Enabling the policy
Toggle Enable document purge to turn on automatic removal of completed-workflow documents. When disabled, no documents are purged regardless of workflow status.
Configuration options
Purge documents after a workflow completes
Number of days after workflow completion before the purge process starts. Required.
Keep recoverable before permanent deletion
Number of days the owner's download link stays active before the document is permanently deleted. Required.
Remind the owner before permanent deletion
Number of days before permanent deletion that a reminder email is sent to the owner. Set to 0 to disable reminders.
Click Save policy to apply changes. The page displays the timestamp of the last saved policy.
⚠️ Important: Once a document is permanently deleted, it can no longer be downloaded or previewed from emSigner. Workflow owners should retain a copy of anything they need before the retention period ends.
Since this policy is configured at the administrator level, it applies uniformly to every user under that tenant — individual users cannot override or opt out of the policy once it's enabled.
Purge history
The Purge History table logs all envelopes affected by the policy, including:
Envelope – Envelope ID
Status – Current state (e.g., Deleted)
Files – Number of files in the envelope
Completed – Date the workflow was completed
Soft-deleted – Date the document entered the recoverable grace window
Deletes on – Scheduled permanent deletion date
History can be exported using Export CSV.
Email notifications
Two automated emails are sent to the document owner as part of this policy:
Action needed (pre-deletion reminder) – Sent before permanent deletion, listing the document(s) due for removal and their deletion date. Includes a Review & download button that takes the owner to a secure identity verification page (one-time code) before allowing download.
Permanently deleted (confirmation) – Sent once the document has been permanently removed, confirming it can no longer be retrieved from emSigner.
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