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A Complete Guide to BoldSign Document Deletion and Retention Policy


 

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  • Revoked: Documents that have been manually canceled or withdrawn by the sender before completion.
  • Expired: Documents that were not signed within the set expiration period and are no longer active.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  • Enhanced security: Reduces risks of unauthorized access by securely removing outdated documents.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

  1. Navigate to settings
    1. Log in to BoldSign.
    2. Go to the Settings menu and choose Business Profile.
    3. Locate the Document Deletion Policy section in the Settings tab.
  2. Enable and configure policy
  • Toggle on the Document Deletion Policy.
Enable document deletion policy

                                                                            Enable document deletion policy
  • Select the document statuses to be deleted.
Select required status filters
 
                                                                           Select required status filters
  • Specify the number of days to retain a document.
Specify retention period
 
                                                                              Specify retention period
  1. Apply changes
    1. 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.
Scheduled documents for deletion
 
                                                                         Scheduled documents for deletion
  • Filter scheduled documents
    Click a badge to filter the list and view all the documents scheduled for deletion.
Filter scheduled documents
 
                                                                                Filter scheduled documents
  • Cancel deletion for specific documents
    In My Documents, open the context menu of a document scheduled for deletion and select Cancel Deletion.
Cancel deletion option
 
                                                                              Cancel deletion option
  • 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.
Disable deletion policy
 
                                                                              Disable deletion policy

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.

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!

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