Submission files & retention
Work handed in as a file is personal data, often the most substantial your organization holds about a learner. Data retention in organization settings decides how long those files are kept.
What this does
Section titled “What this does”How long the platform keeps the files learners hand in. Grades, feedback and the record of the hand-in are never removed — only the file itself.
That distinction is the whole design. Purging a file does not erase the fact that someone handed work in, when they did it, what they scored, or what feedback they got. The academic record survives; the essay itself doesn’t.
Set a retention period
Section titled “Set a retention period”- Open Org settings and choose Data retention.
- Pick either Keep files — the default — or a number of months after hand-in.
- Save.
The purge runs nightly, and the setting applies to every assignment in the organization. There is no per-assignment override, deliberately: a retention policy that varies by assignment is not a policy.
Legal hold
Section titled “Legal hold”A submission on legal hold is never purged, whatever the retention setting says. Use it when work is evidence — a misconduct investigation, a disputed grade, a regulatory matter, litigation.
A hold carries an optional reason, and the file shows as On legal hold — never purged rather than counting down. Take the hold off and the file returns to the normal schedule; if it’s already past the retention period, the next nightly run removes it.
What this means for a data request
Section titled “What this means for a data request”A learner exercising their right to erasure has their submission files removed alongside the rest of their personal data, and their assignments appear in a data-export request. Legal hold takes precedence — a file under hold is retained, and the reason for that is what you’d give the person if they asked. See Privacy requests.
Reference
Section titled “Reference”| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Keep files | The default. Nothing is purged on a timer |
| Purge after N months | Files are removed N months after the hand-in |
| Scope | Every assignment in the organization |
| Frequency | Nightly |
| Legal hold | Exempt. Never purged while the hold is on |
| Never removed | The hand-in record, the grade, the feedback |
| Who can change it | Someone with permission to update the organization |
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”A file is gone but the grade is still there. Working as designed. Retention removes the file; the academic record stays.
A file wasn’t purged when it should have been. Check whether it’s on legal hold — a hold overrides retention entirely.
I set retention and nothing happened immediately. The purge is a nightly job, not an instant one.
Can I keep files longer for one assignment? No. Retention is organization-wide. Use legal hold for the individual cases that need to outlast the policy.