retention / deletion question - exclude long-lived files?

[ajm-b]

Noob question:

I really like the idea of defining a blanket [retain 1 year then delete] policy, but users sometimes have files they legitimately need to keep for longer - how can I exclude those? The data are basically working/reference material I'd want to retain 1 year from creation date...

1. but I don't care about retaining it longer + also don't want to automatically delete it
2. the huge variety of content would be impossible to reliably match by query; only the end user knows "I want to keep this thing indefinitely until I'm done with it"

It seems like I could accomplish this with multiple labels/policies but I'm a little hazy on the details. Help?

[#2]

Hi @ajm-b ,

Labels are applied at the document library or folder level for documents. You can either do this automatically or manually, or a combination. You really have 3 choices :-

1. Apply all labels automatically then allow users to change on content they want to keep longer.

2. Apply labels automatically to some areas and let users decide in others. 

3. Apply manual labels to everything.

For proper data retention it would have to be option 1 I would have thought with training for users. The way we normally work out retention is get the users to define their file plan and the labels against each bit of content. Its their data so in all the projects I have done IT haven't specified the retention, they as the data owners have. 

[#3]

@ajm-b having a blanket policy is a really bad idea. Records retention policies need to be defined using a collaborative approach that involves legal, contracts, HR, security. This is not a simple topic and should not be treated as such.