# Submission retention

Auto-delete submissions after a set window to stay compliant.

## Submission retention

Choose how long formbase keeps your submissions. When the window expires, data is deleted automatically — helping you stay compliant and clutter-free.

<h2 id="where-to-set-up">Where to set it up</h2>

For the full list of submission settings, see <a href="/building-forms/form-settings#retention">Form settings</a>.

> ℹ️ **Business feature**
> <p>
>     Setting or changing a retention schedule requires a Business plan. A schedule you've already set keeps running even if you downgrade —
>     it's a privacy promise to your respondents, so formbase doesn't switch it off on a billing event. You can see and clear a schedule on
>     any plan.
>   </p>

<h2 id="what-you-can-set">What you can set</h2>

The two are mutually exclusive: setting one clears the other. Cleanup runs once a day, so deletion lands within 24 hours of the window passing rather than the moment it does.

<h2 id="why-use-it">Why use it</h2>

- **Compliance** — meet contractual or regulatory limits by ensuring data doesn't outlive its allowed window.
- **Privacy** — keep data only as long as necessary, then let it go automatically.
- **Tidiness** — a retention window keeps high-volume inboxes manageable.

<h2 id="what-gets-deleted">What gets deleted</h2>

When a submission passes the retention window, formbase permanently removes:

- The submission record (all answers and metadata)
- Attached files (uploads, signatures)
- Generated PDFs
- The context, prefill and metadata of the request it answered, if any (see <a href="#retention-and-requests">Retention and requests</a>)

Deletion is **permanent**. There is no trash or undo.

> ⚠️ **Export before deletion**
> <p>
>     If you need long-term records but want to reduce live data, export your submissions before the retention window expires. Connect{' '}
>     <a href="/integrations/google-sheets">Google Sheets</a> or <a href="/integrations/airtable">Airtable</a> for automatic backup, or
>     download periodic <a href="/submissions-analytics/exports">CSV/Excel exports</a>.
>   </p>

<h2 id="retention-and-requests">Retention and requests</h2>

The same window applies to <a href="/requests/overview">requests</a>. Once a request is completed, expired or canceled and its terminal timestamp passes the window, formbase strips what the automation sent with it:

- Context (hidden-field values) and prefill
- Locked-field keys
- Metadata
- Any documents the caller attached for that one recipient
- The link to the submission it produced, which is deleted by the same rule

The request row itself stays: its status, every timestamp, the recipient, the external id and the invitation, reminder and callback history. The Requests list and the request drawer keep showing it, with a note that the prefilled data was removed. A stripped request can no longer be used as a prefill source, and the API's <code>requests.get</code> returns it with <code>dataPurgedAt</code> set and empty context, prefill and metadata.

Pending requests are never stripped, however old — they expire first, and expiry is what starts their retention clock.

<h2 id="retention-and-partials">Retention and partial submissions</h2>

formbase deletes partial submissions — responses someone started but never finished — 30 days after their last save, along with their uploaded files. That is a per-form value with a 30-day default, and it runs on every plan, independently of the retention you set here. The one exception is a specific deletion date, which takes partials with it.

<h2 id="free-plan-form-archival">Free-plan form archival</h2>

Separate from per-form submission retention, a free-plan **form** that goes a year without an edit or a submission is moved to trash, then permanently deleted 30 days later. formbase warns the owner by email first and waits at least 30 days after that warning before trashing anything, so the earliest a form can go is well past the year. It doesn't apply to Pro or Business. See <a href="/subscription-billing/limits-quotas#inactive-forms">Limits &amp; quotas</a>.

<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>

- **Job application form** — 90-day submission retention (enough time to review candidates).
- **Event registration** — specific deletion date set to one week after the event ends.
- **Anonymous survey** — 30-day retention for analysis, then auto-delete to honor the promise of anonymity.

> ℹ️ **No retention by default**
> <p>
>     If you don't set a retention window, formbase keeps completed submissions until you delete them yourself. Partial submissions are always
>     cleaned up after 30 days, whether or not you set anything here.
>   </p>

<h2 id="next-steps">Next steps</h2>

<div class="not-prose grid gap-3 sm:grid-cols-2">
  - [Share links](/sharing-publishing/sharing-embedding) — Create and manage share link URLs
  - [Exporting submissions](/submissions-analytics/exports) — Download responses before auto-deletion
  - [Workspaces & Teams](/workspaces-teams/overview) — Manage who can access your forms and data
</div>