Compliance Glossary for Confluence

How do retention and legal hold work?

Administrators record a retention class, a Retain until date, and an optional Legal hold when creating an enterprise freeze. Missing retention data blocks capture. An active hold blocks deletion after the date passes. Compliance Glossary enforces the recorded state. Your organization remains responsible for the lawful duration, hold decision, and release process.

Last verified against production v6 · 26 September 2026

At a glance

InputActionOutputLimit
Retention classValidate and persist the policy labelPolicy identity on frozen evidenceThe app does not select a lawful duration
Retain until dateCompare the recorded date with evaluation timeRetain or expired dispositionA date alone does not authorize deletion
Legal holdOverride elapsed retention for deletion checksLegal-hold dispositionThe organization owns hold authority and release
Missing policyBlock evidence captureConfiguration-required stateCapture cannot proceed without a valid date

How it works

  1. Open Create enterprise freeze.
  2. Select the required Governed spaces.
  3. Enter the approved Retention class.
  4. Set Retain until from the governing policy.
  5. Select Legal hold when authorized.
  6. Select Prepare and queue freeze.

Example

A regulated evidence package must remain available until a policy date. The administrator records that date and the approved retention class before capture. A later legal hold prevents deletion after the date passes. Compliance Glossary records and applies that state. Legal and records owners still decide when the hold may be released.

What this does not mean

Compliance Glossary does not provide legal advice or choose jurisdiction-specific retention periods. It does not create a legal hold merely because an administrator selects the control. The organization must define authority, approval, review, and release outside the app.

Related questions

Next step

Define the retention policy and hold authority before creating the baseline.

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Verification basis: production v6 code, tests, manifest, and operations guidance. Verified 26 September 2026.