Personal data retention and automatic deletion
Automatically remove aged personal information using a website retention period and message-handling rule.
What it is
Personal Data Retention Period (days) sets how long INSIDE keeps personal information before scheduled cleanup. A value of zero disables this automatic cleanup. The retention type and message rule determine which aged information is selected and what happens to conversation text.
Who uses it and why
Administrators agree the retention period and message policy with Powerfront. Visitors' information is affected when it reaches the configured retention conditions; visitors do not operate this setting themselves.
Where to find it
Powerfront manages these controls under Settings › General Settings › Admin. Ask Powerfront to review or change your website's policy.
How it works
When the period is positive, INSIDE checks for eligible data in the background and processes it in batches.
- Rolling Retention defers visitor cleanup when the visitor has a recent conversation. A recent conversation can therefore preserve older information associated with that visitor.
- Fixed Retention selects older conversations even when the visitor has later activity. Related visitor information, forms and orders have their own age checks.
The message rule offers three choices:
- Do not mask leaves conversation text unchanged by scheduled retention.
- Mask all Messages includes selected conversation messages in retention cleanup, with system messages excluded.
- Mask only PII data (chat end) requests personal-information sanitisation at chat end. Its scope is described in Data Expiry.
Selected visitor data passes through masking and permanent resource cleanup. A further pass clears old contacts when their linked visitors have already been processed. Old live-show calendar invitations also use the retention period.
Configure it
Ask Powerfront to set Personal Data Retention Period (days), confirm Retention Type and explicitly choose Data Retention Message Rule. The last two controls are shown when the retention period is positive.
Confirm the message choice before enabling retention. If no message rule has been saved, enabling retention defaults to Mask all Messages. Disabling retention through this screen resets the message rule to Do not mask and the type to Rolling Retention.
Settings
| Setting | Where | Applies to | Default | Who can change it | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Data Retention Period (days) | Settings › General Settings › Admin | website | 0 days, automatic retention disabled | Powerfront | A positive value enables scheduled personal-data cleanup after the configured age. |
| Retention Type | Settings › General Settings › Admin | website | Rolling Retention | Powerfront | Selects rolling eligibility that protects visitors with recent conversations, or fixed eligibility that selects older conversations despite later activity. |
| Data Retention Message Rule | Settings › General Settings › Admin | website | Mask all Messages when retention is enabled and no rule is saved; otherwise Do not mask | Powerfront | Leaves conversation text unchanged, masks retained conversation messages during retention cleanup, or requests PII masking at chat end. |
Limits and good to know
- Cleanup is scheduled and batched. Reaching the age cutoff does not mean immediate removal at that exact time.
- Fixed retention does not remove every record belonging to a selected visitor.
- Automatic cleanup proceeds to permanent cleanup; do not expect the manual recovery window to protect automatically removed information.
- This setting does not establish a retention policy for every log, backup, exported workbook or external system.
- Older reporting configurations can select eligible visitors differently. Ask Powerfront to confirm the effective policy for your website.
Depends on and works with
+1 more · this feature uses
- Captured data expiry and message sanitisationRelated
Field expiry and chat-end sanitisation use lifecycle events rather than the retention age.
View all connections as a list
This feature uses
- Admin settings and feature switches · managed by PowerfrontConfigured by
Powerfront manages the website retention controls in Admin.
- Attachments in conversationsEnhances
Retention of selected conversations can include their associated attachments.
- Customer contact detailsEnhances
A separate pass clears old contacts once their linked visitors have been processed.
- Contact merge preview and assignmentConfigured by
Contact assignments determine which linked visitors must be processed before an old contact is cleared.
- Customer contact identities across channelsEnhances
Contact cleanup also clears associated channel identity information.
- Live show RSVP, reminders and follow-upEnhances
Old live-show calendar invitations are cleaned up using the same retention period.
- Customer data deletion and recoveryRequires
Automatic retention uses the deletion process to remove selected personal information from normal use.
- Permanent deletion of retained customer dataRequires
Automatic visitor cleanup includes permanent deletion without a separate manual Audit action.
- Captured data expiry and message sanitisationRelated
Field expiry and chat-end sanitisation use lifecycle events rather than the retention age.
Used by
- Visitor browsing and activity historyConfigured by
Scheduled personal-data retention controls removal of eligible retained visitor information.
- Existing answers in Virtual Assistant tasksConfigured by
Website retention rules separately control related message masking.
- Audit search for retained customer recordsConfigured by
Retention determines how much history remains searchable.
- Customer data deletion and recoveryRelated
Automatic retention includes permanent cleanup and does not offer the same recovery route as manual deletion.
- Permanent deletion of retained customer dataEnhances
Automatic personal-data retention can invoke permanent cleanup after deleting visitor information.
- Captured data expiry and message sanitisationConfigured by
The website retention controls hold the shared message rule and its conditional default.
FAQ and troubleshooting
Why is old information still present?
The period may be zero, processing may still be pending, or recent conversations may defer rolling cleanup. Ask Powerfront to check eligibility and processing for the affected records.
Does a new chat preserve an older chat?
It can under Rolling Retention. Fixed Retention selects older conversations despite later activity, subject to your website's reporting configuration.
Why did conversation text remain after personal details were removed?
Check the message rule with Powerfront. Do not mask preserves conversation text, while Mask only PII data (chat end) has a narrower purpose than masking all messages.
Can I restore automatically removed data?
Do not rely on recovery. Automatic visitor retention includes permanent resource cleanup, unlike a manual deletion retained for recovery.
Does this also delete copies downloaded by our team?
No. Handle downloaded exports and copies in other systems through their own retention processes.