Configuring data deletion settings
Data deletion settings allow you to automatically remove old leads and calendar events based on configurable strategies.
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Data deletion settings allow you to automatically remove old leads and calendar events based on configurable strategies. This helps maintain database efficiency, comply with data retention policies, and ensure your system only contains relevant, current data.
What are data deletion settings
Table of Contents
- What are data deletion settings
- Accessing data deletion settings
- Lead deletion strategies overview
- Creating a lead deletion strategy
- Understanding "latest update" trigger
- Adding deletion criteria
- Available criteria categories
- Viewing all campaigns
- Calendar deletion strategies
- Setting calendar event retention
- How calendar deletion works
- Managing active strategies
- Best practices for data deletion
- Data deletion vs anonymization
- Summary
Data deletion settings provide automated cleanup of two types of data:
- Lead deletion strategies: Automatically delete inactive leads from campaigns based on time and criteria
- Calendar deletion strategies: Define how long calendar events are kept before deletion
These strategies run automatically in the background, removing data that meets the defined conditions.
Accessing data deletion settings
Go to Account → Data deletion settings. You will see two sections:
- Lead deletion strategies
- Calendar deletion strategies
Each section contains a table showing existing strategies and options to create new ones.
Lead deletion strategies overview
Lead deletion strategies define when inactive entities in campaigns are automatically deleted. The system displays a table showing:
- Campaign: Which campaign the strategy applies to
- Strategy name: The name you assigned
- When to delete: The time condition (e.g., "2 years after latest update")
- Criteria: Additional conditions that must be met
- Active: Whether the strategy is currently running
A notification at the top explains: "A deletion strategy defines the time at which inactive entities in a Campaign are automatically deleted."
Creating a lead deletion strategy
Click New lead deletion strategy to open the configuration dialog. You will configure:
Basic settings:
- Select campaign: Choose which campaign this strategy applies to
- Strategy name: Give it a descriptive name
- Active: Set to Yes to enable the strategy immediately, or No to configure without activating
Triggering events:
- Delete entities: Set the time period (e.g., "2 years") and the event to measure from
- Available events include:
- latest update (most common)
- created at
- anonymized at
- current status set at
Understanding "latest update" trigger
The system provides detailed information about what counts as a "latest update" event. This includes:
- Any field value change (including selects and data-fields)
- Files uploaded or removed
- Status changed
- Assignee changed
- Calendar events added, edited or deleted
- Has new related entities in other campaigns
- Anonymized at
- Follow-up added
- Checklists submitted
- NPS scores submitted
- Internal comments added
- Enrichments performed
- Created at
This ensures leads with any recent activity are not accidentally deleted.
Adding deletion criteria
After creating the strategy, you can add additional criteria that must be met for a lead to be deleted. Click Edit criteria to configure filters such as:
- Has had statuses: Lead must have been in specific statuses
- Not updated at: Lead has not been updated within a time period
- Calendar events: Filters based on event presence or timing
- Created/updated/deleted: Filters based on creation or update dates
- Followup: Filters based on followup status
- Source of origin: Where the lead came from
You can combine multiple criteria using AND logic. The system shows a count of how many leads currently meet the criteria.
Available criteria categories
The criteria selector provides extensive filtering options across:
Status: Has had statuses (lead must have had selected status)
Calendar events: Has/has no calendar event, event timing filters, event resource, event type, event created by
Created/updated/deleted: Created at, Updated at, Deleted, Source of origin
Followup: Has followup, Has unhandled followup, Has handled followup
Each criterion can be configured with specific time periods or values.
Viewing all campaigns
Below the active strategies table, you can see "All campaigns" which lists every campaign, its campaign group, and whether it has deletion strategies configured. This overview helps you identify campaigns that may need deletion strategies added.
Calendar deletion strategies
Calendar deletion strategies define how long calendar events are kept in the system. The notification explains: "A calendar deletion strategy defines how long to keep Calendar Events in the calendar."
The table shows:
- Updated at: When the strategy was last modified
- Keep calendar events for: The retention period
- Active: Whether the strategy is enabled
Setting calendar event retention
Click Edit to modify the calendar deletion strategy. You can choose from predefined retention periods:
- 1 month (30 days)
- 2 months (61 days)
- 3 months (91 days)
- 6 months (183 days)
- 9 months (274 days)
- 12 months (365 days)
- 18 months (548 days)
- 2 years (730 days)
- 3 years (1095 days)
- 4 years (1460 days)
- 5 years (1825 days) - Default
- 7 years (2555 days)
- 10 years (3650 days)
The default is 5 years after the event has ended.
How calendar deletion works
Calendar events are deleted based on when they ended, not when they were created. For example, with a 5-year retention policy, an event that ended on January 1, 2020 would be deleted on January 1, 2025.
This ensures completed events are retained for the specified period before automatic cleanup.
Managing active strategies
For both lead and calendar deletion strategies, you can:
- Edit: Modify the strategy configuration
- Activate/Deactivate: Enable or disable the strategy without deleting it
- View counts: See how many items currently meet deletion criteria
The Hide counts toggle allows you to show or hide statistics in the tables.
Best practices for data deletion
When configuring deletion strategies:
- Start with longer retention periods and adjust based on needs
- Consider legal and compliance requirements for data retention
- Use anonymization for personal data before full deletion when appropriate
- Test deletion criteria carefully to avoid removing active leads
- Document your deletion policies
- Review strategies regularly to ensure they remain appropriate
- Monitor the counts to understand deletion impact
- Communicate deletion policies to your team
- Consider keeping non-PII data for analysis rather than full deletion
Data deletion vs anonymization
Remember the difference:
- Anonymization: Removes personal identifiable information but keeps records for reporting
- Deletion: Completely removes the lead or event from the system
Use anonymization settings (separate feature) for GDPR compliance while maintaining business data, and deletion settings for complete removal of old, inactive records.
Summary
Data deletion settings provide automated cleanup of old leads and calendar events. Configure lead deletion strategies per campaign with time-based triggers and additional criteria, set calendar event retention periods from 1 month to 10 years, and regularly review strategies to ensure they match your data retention needs. This maintains database efficiency, supports compliance requirements, and ensures your system focuses on current, relevant data.
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