Managing digital documents efficiently is essential for organizations that prioritize regulatory compliance, data security, and operational clarity. BoldSign addresses this need with its automatic document deletion policy, a feature designed to streamline document lifecycle management.
This policy allows users to automate the removal of documents that have reached specific statuses—such as completed, declined, revoked, or expired—after a defined retention period ranging from 14 to 1,827 days.
In this blog, you’ll explore how the policy works, why it’s important, how to configure it, and answers to common questions to help you manage documents more efficiently with BoldSign.
What is the Automatic Document Deletion Policy?
BoldSign automatic document deletion policy allows users to automatically delete documents after a set retention period, based on the document status. This helps organizations manage document lifecycles efficiently while maintaining legal compliance, security, and storage hygiene.
Supported document statuses for deletion:
- Completed: Documents that have been successfully signed by all parties.
- Declined: Documents where one or more recipients have rejected the signing request.
- Revoked: Documents that have been manually canceled or withdrawn by the sender before completion.
- Expired: Documents that were not signed within the set expiration period and are no longer active.
Retention period options:
- Minimum: 14 days
- Maximum: 1,827 days (approximately 5 years)
Documents sent on behalf of others are excluded from automatic deletion to preserve accountability and traceability.
Why use Automatic Document Deletion
- Regulatory compliance: Ensures adherence to data protection laws like GDPR by deleting documents after required retention periods.
- Enhanced security: Reduces risks of unauthorized access by securely removing outdated documents.
- Storage efficiency: Frees up storage by eliminating unnecessary documents, optimizing system performance.
- Time savings: Eliminates manual deletion tasks, reducing administrative overhead.
- Audit preparedness: Maintains organized records, simplifying compliance audits.
Setting up and managing Automatic Document Deletion in BoldSign
This guide walks you through both the setup and ongoing management of scheduled deletions.
How to set up Automatic Document Deletion
- Navigate to settings
- Log in to BoldSign.
- Go to the Settings menu and choose Business Profile.
- Locate the Document Deletion Policy section in the Settings tab.
- Enable and configure policy
- Toggle on the Document Deletion Policy.
- Select the document statuses to be deleted.
- Specify the number of days to retain a document.
- Apply changes
- Click Save Changes to activate the policy. From that moment onward, any document marked with a selected status will be scheduled for deletion based on the configured retention period. Documents marked with those statuses before the policy was enabled will not be affected.
Managing scheduled deletions
BoldSign provides tools to monitor and manage deletions:
- Track scheduled documents
Documents queued for deletion display an identifying badge in My Documents and Team Documents tabs, showing the deletion date and time in a tooltip when hovered over.
- Filter scheduled documents
Click a badge to filter the list and view all the documents scheduled for deletion.
- Cancel deletion for specific documents
In My Documents, open the context menu of a document scheduled for deletion and select Cancel Deletion.
- Disable policy for all documents
In the Business Profile settings, toggle off the Document Deletion Policy. Confirm by clicking Yes, Disable Policy and Save changes to remove all documents from the deletion queue.
Key features of the BoldSign document deletion policy
The deletion policy offers powerful capabilities to help organizations manage documents securely and efficiently:
- Customizable retention
Set retention periods for 14 to 1,827 days to align with your compliance and data management needs. - Status-based deletion
Apply deletion rules to specific document statuses: Completed, Declined, Revoked, and Expired. - Secure deletion protocols
Documents are permanently and irreversibly deleted, ensuring strong data protection. - Organization-wide application
Admins can enforce consistent deletion policies for all users within the organization. - Flexible cancellation
Cancel scheduled deletions for individual documents or disable the policy entirely when needed. - Clear visibility
The identifying badge makes it easy to track which documents are queued for deletion.
FAQ
What is document retention?
Retention refers to how long BoldSign stores documents before automatic deletion.
How long are documents stored?
Retention ranges from 14 days (minimum) to 1,827 days (approximately 5 years).
What are retention rules?
Retention rules define the retention duration based on document status.
Can I set retention by document type?
No, retention conditions are applied by documents status, not document type.
What happens when retention ends?
Documents are securely and permanently deleted.
Can I manage retention for my whole account?
Yes, admins can set organization-wide policies for consistency.
Is deletion secure?
Absolutely. BoldSign uses secure deletion protocols to ensure documents are permanently removed after the retention period ends.
Can I recover deleted documents?
No, deletions are irreversible. Archive important files before they expire.
Can I change the retention period?
Yes. You can update the retention period at any time from the Document Deletion Policy settings in your organization account. Changes will apply to future deletions based on the new configuration. However, documents already deleted cannot be recovered.
Do retention settings apply to all users?
Yes, admin-set policies apply organization-wide.
Can I cancel deletion for specific documents?
Yes. You can cancel deletion for individual documents via that document’s context menu in the My Documents page.
Can I disable the deletion policy?
Yes, toggle off the policy in the Business Profile settings to cancel all scheduled deletions.
What’s the difference between retention and deletion?
Retention refers to keeping documents for a set period when they meet a specified status, whereas deletion permanently removes them after the retention period.
What are document retention policies?
Document retention in policies defines how long documents are stored before being deleted to meet compliance and data governance needs.
Conclusion
BoldSign streamlines document lifecycle management by enabling secure, automated deletions based on customizable retention periods. With flexible cancellation options and organization-wide control, it helps teams stay legally compliant, protect sensitive data, and reduce manual effort.
Ready to simplify your document management? Sign up for a free 30-day trial on the BoldSign website or request a demo to see it in action.
We’d love your feedback—share your thoughts or suggestions in the comments below!
