Retention and bulk delete
Retention policies are implemented with the Bulk delete recordings job: a scheduled deletion job whose filters select what to delete — for example, "audio older than 180 days" or "everything from group X after 3 years". You can create several jobs for different policies (one group keeps 3 years, another 7). The same job, run once with narrow filters, is also the tool for one-off bulk deletions.
Where: Administration › Storage › Bulk Delete Recordings, which opens the jobs console filtered to this job type.
Job settings
- Delete data — which data types the job removes (combine as needed):
- Call metadata — removes the conversation record entirely, including its transcript, insights, and evaluations.
- Audio recording files — removes only the audio; the conversation record, transcript, and insights remain searchable and reportable. A common policy deletes audio after a year and the metadata much later — the audio is the bulk of the storage, while the analysis keeps its value.
- Screen recording metadata / Screen recording files — the same split for screen recordings.
- Criteria for deleting call recordings — the filters selecting the affected conversations (age, tenant, group, and other call attributes). Filters are required — the job refuses to run without them, so a misconfigured job cannot silently delete everything.
- Test only — a test drive: the run logs what would be deleted without modifying data. Use it before enabling a new policy.
- Schedule — run manually or on a recurring schedule for continuous retention enforcement.
Run results report the deleted call/file counts and byte totals; per-record details and errors are in the job's logs — see Jobs console.
The Do-Not-Delete flag
Users with the matching permission can flag conversations as Do-Not-Delete to protect them (disputes, training sets, compliance).
The bulk delete job has no built-in Do-Not-Delete exclusion
Unlike storage limits enforcement, which always skips flagged conversations, the Bulk delete recordings job deletes whatever its filters select. You must include the Do-Not-Delete exclusion in every retention job's filtering criteria — otherwise flagged conversations are deleted like any others. Verify the exclusion with a Test only run.
The customer-facing retention page tells tenant administrators to confirm this with their provider — see Retention in the Administration Guide. Make sure your retention jobs honor that expectation.
Choosing the right deletion mechanism
| Goal | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Cap per-tenant storage automatically | Storage limits + enforcement job |
| Policy-based retention with filters (age, group, data type) | Bulk delete recordings job (this page) |
| Move old audio to cheaper storage instead of deleting | Relocate job — File maintenance jobs |
| Archive before deleting | Export first, then bulk delete |
Related pages
- Retention in the Administration Guide — how retention is presented to tenant administrators.
- Storage limits — the automatic per-tenant cap.
- Export and backup — archiving before deletion.
- Jobs console — schedules, runs, and logs.