Edit message retention settings for specific conversations
By default, Slack will retain all messages for the lifetime of your workspace. Workspace Owners and Org Owners can adjust retention settings for individual public channels. If permitted, members can also set a custom message retention period for private channels and direct messages (DMs) that they’re a part of. These retention settings for individual conversations can be shorter or longer than the workspace or org-wide message retention setting.
What to expect
- If member overrides are allowed, members can set their own retention period for private channels and DMs. Owners will be able to adjust this for public channels as well.
- If admin overrides are allowed, owners and admins on the Business+ and Enterprise Grid plans can set message retention for channels using channel management tools.
- In channels shared with external organizations, retention settings will only apply to the messages sent by members of your organization.
- In an Enterprise Grid org, multi-workspace channels will always adhere to the organization retention policy. In cases where the org-level policy isn't set, the default is to keep all messages.
Caution! Message deletion is permanent. Please use care when setting up retention policies.
Set message retention for a specific channel or DM
- From your desktop, open the conversation you'd like to configure retention settings for.
- Click the channel or member name(s) in the conversation header.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Hover over Message history and click Edit.
- Select Delete messages after a specific time period.
- Choose how long you'd like to save messages, then click Save Changes.
Slack will post a message to the conversation to confirm the updated retention settings.
Set message retention with channel management tools
Business+ plan
Enterprise Grid plan
Workspace Owners and Admins can use channel management tools to view and adjust message retention on public channels. The Workspace Primary Owner, and owners and admins with permission, can also take this action on private channels.
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
- Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Workspace settings.
- Below Administration in the left sidebar, select Manage channels. If you don’t see the left sidebar, click Menu in the top-left corner to find it.
- Search for a channel name, or filter channels by channel type. If you have permission to manage private channels, you can check the box next to Show all private channels.
- To set or change retention on a channel, click the three dots icon to the right of the channel name and select Edit message history.
- Make and save your changes.
Slack will post a message to the channel to let members know that retention was updated and which owner or admin took the action.
Note: On the Business+ plan, you can only edit retention on private channels if a request to export data from all channels and conversations has been approved for your workspace.
Org level
The Org Primary Owner, and any Org Owners or Org Admins with permission, can use the steps below to view and edit message retention on channels in their org:
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
- Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organization settings.
- Click Channels in the left sidebar.
- Search for a channel name, or filter channels by channel type or workspace. If you have permission to manage private channels, you can check the box next to Show all private channels.
- To set or change retention on a channel, click the three dots icon to the right of the channel name and select Edit message history.
- Make and save your changes.
Slack will post a message to the channel to let members know that retention was updated and which owner or admin took the action.
Workspace level
Workspace Owners and Admins can use the steps below to view and edit message retention on channels in workspaces they manage:
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
- Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Workspace settings. (If you manage more than one workspace, choose one from the drop-down menu.)
- Below Administration in the left sidebar, select Manage channels. If you don’t see the left sidebar, click Menu in the top-left corner to find it.
- Search for a channel name, or filter channels by channel type. If you have permission to manage private channels, you can check the box next to Show all private channels.
- To set or change retention on a channel, click the three dots icon to the right of the channel name and select Edit message history.
- Make and save your changes.
Slack will post a message to the channel to let members know that retention was updated and which owner or admin took the action.
- Workspace Owners and Org Owners can make this feature available to all members (but not guests)
- Available on paid plans