Skip to product menu
close
  • Sales
    Press Space or Enter to display list of options
EXPLORE ALL PRODUCTS

Sales

 
CRM

Comprehensive CRM platform for customer-facing teams.

CRM
 
Bigin

Simple CRM for small businesses moving from spreadsheets.

Bigin
 
Forms

Build online forms for every business need.

Forms
 
SalesIQ

Live chat app to engage and convert website visitors.

SalesIQ
 
Bookings

Appointment scheduling app for consultations with customers.

Bookings
 
Sign

Digital signature app for businesses.

Sign
 
RouteIQ

Comprehensive sales map visualization and optimal route planning solution.

RouteIQ
 
Thrive

Complete loyalty and affiliate management platform.

Thrive
 
Voice

Cloud Contact Center Software for businesses.

Voice
 
Suites
CRM Plus

Unified platform to deliver top-notch customer experience.

CRM Plus

Marketing

 
Social

All-in-one social media management software.

Social
 
Campaigns

Create, send, and track targeted email campaigns that drive sales.

Campaigns
 
Forms

Build online forms for every business need.

Forms
 
Survey

Design surveys to reach and interact with your audience.

Survey
 
Sites

Online website builder with extensive customisation options.

Sites
 
PageSense

Website conversion optimization and personalisation platform.

PageSense
 
Backstage

End-to-end event management software.

Backstage
 
Webinar

Webinar platform for webcasting online webinars.

Webinar
 
Marketing Automation

All-in-one marketing automation software.

Marketing Automation
 
LandingPage

Smart landing page builder to increase conversion rates

LandingPage
 
Publish

Manage all your local business listings on a single platform.

Publish
 
SalesIQ

Live chat app to engage and convert website visitors.

SalesIQ
 
Sign

Digital signature app for businesses.

Sign
 
Thrive

Complete loyalty and affiliate management platform.

Thrive
 
Voice

Cloud Contact Center Software for businesses.

Voice
 
NEW
LeadChain

Sync, manage, and convert leads across channels seamlessly.

LeadChain
 
NEW
CommunitySpaces

Online community platform for individuals and businesses to grow their network and brand.

CommunitySpaces
 
Suites
Marketing Plus

Unified marketing platform for marketing teams.

Marketing Plus

Commerce and POS

 
Commerce

eCommerce platform to manage and market your online store.

Commerce

Service

 
Desk

Helpdesk software to deliver great customer support.

Desk
 
Assist

Remote support and unattended remote access software.

Assist
 
Lens

Interactive remote assistance software with augmented reality.

Lens
 
FSM

End-to-end field service management platform for service businesses.

FSM
 
SalesIQ

Live chat app to engage and convert website visitors.

SalesIQ
 
Voice

Cloud Contact Center Software for businesses.

Voice
 
Solo

The all-in-one toolkit for solopreneurs.

Solo
 
Bookings

Appointment scheduling app for consultations with customers.

Bookings
 
Suites
Service Plus

Unified platform for customer service and support teams.

Service Plus

Finance

 
Books

Powerful accounting platform for growing businesses.

Books
 
FREE
Invoice

100% Free invoicing solution.

Invoice
 
Expense

Effortless expense reporting platform.

Expense
 
Inventory

Powerful stock management and inventory control software.

Inventory
 
Billing

End-to-end billing solution for your business.

Billing
 
Checkout

Collect payments online with custom branded pages.

Checkout
 
NEW
Payroll

Payroll software with automated tax payments and filing.

Payroll
 
Solo

The all-in-one toolkit for solopreneurs.

Solo
 
Practice

Practice management software for accounting firms.

Practice
 
Sign

Digital signature app for businesses.

Sign
 
Commerce

eCommerce platform to manage and market your online store.

Commerce
 
Suites
Finance Plus

All-in-one suite to manage your operations and finances.

Finance Plus

Email and Collaboration

 
Mail

Secure email service for teams of all sizes.

Mail
 
Meeting

Online meeting software for all your video conferencing & webinar needs.

Meeting
 
Writer

Word processor for focused writing and discussions.

Writer
 
Sheet

Spreadsheet software for collaborative teams.

Sheet
 
Show

Create, edit, and share slides with a sleek presentation app.

Show
 
Notebook

Beautiful home for all your notes.

Notebook
 
Cliq

Stay in touch with teams no matter where you are.

Cliq
 
Connect

Employee experience platform to communicate, engage, and build positive employee relations.

Connect
 
Bookings

Appointment scheduling app for consultations with customers.

Bookings
 
TeamInbox

Shared inboxes for teams.

TeamInbox
 
WorkDrive

Online file management for teams.

WorkDrive
 
Sign

Digital signature app for businesses.

Sign
 
Office Suite

Powerful collaborative work platform for teams.

Office Suite
 
Office Integrator

Built in document editors for web apps.

Office Integrator
 
ZeptoMail

Secure and reliable transactional email sending service.

ZeptoMail
 
Calendar

Online business calendar to manage events and schedule appointments.

Calendar
 
Learn

Knowledge and learning management platform.

Learn
 
Voice

Cloud Contact Center Software for businesses.

Voice
 
ToDo

Collaborative task management for individuals and teams.

ToDo
 
Tables

Work management tool to connect people, processes, and information.

Tables
 
FREE
PDF Editor

Collaborative online PDF editing tool.

PDF Editor
 
Suites
Workplace

Application suite built to improve team productivity and collaboration.

Workplace

Human Resources

 
People

Organize, automate, and simplify your HR processes.

People
 
Recruit

Intuitive recruiting platform built to provide hiring solutions.

Recruit
 
Expense

Effortless expense reporting platform.

Expense
 
Workerly

Manage temporary staffing with an employee scheduling solution.

Workerly
 
NEW
Payroll

Payroll software with automated tax payments and filing.

Payroll
 
Shifts

Employee scheduling and time tracking app.

Shifts
 
Sign

Digital signature app for businesses.

Sign
 
Suites
People Plus

Comprehensive HR platform for seamless employee experiences.

People Plus

Security and IT Management

 
Creator

Build custom apps to simplify business processes.

Creator
 
Directory

Workforce identity and access management solution for cloud businesses.

Directory
 
FREE
OneAuth

Secure multi-factor authenticator (MFA) for all your online accounts.

OneAuth
 
Vault

Online password manager for teams.

Vault
 
Catalyst

Pro-code platform to build and deploy your apps.

Catalyst
 
Toolkit

Complete resource for any admin-related lookup queries.

Toolkit
 
Lens

Interactive remote assistance software with augmented reality.

Lens
 
Assist

Remote support and unattended remote access software.

Assist
 
QEngine

Test automation software to build, manage, execute, and report testcases.

QEngine
 
NEW
RPA

Automate manual, tedious, and repetitive tasks easily.

RPA

BI and Analytics

 
Analytics

Modern self-service BI and analytics platform.

Analytics
 
Embedded BI

Embedded analytics and white label BI solutions, tailored for your needs.

Embedded BI
 
DataPrep

AI-powered data preparation service for your data-driven organization.

DataPrep
 
NEW
IoT

Harnessing IoT analytics for real-time operational intelligence.

IoT

Project Management

 
Projects

Manage, track, and collaborate on projects with teams.

Projects
 
Sprints

Planning and tracking tool for scrum teams.

Sprints
 
BugTracker

Automatic bug tracking software for managing bugs.

BugTracker
 
Solo

The all-in-one toolkit for solopreneurs.

Solo

Developer Platforms

 
Creator

Build custom apps to simplify business processes.

Creator
 
Flow

Automate business workflows by creating smart integrations.

Flow
 
Catalyst

Pro-code platform to build and deploy your apps.

Catalyst
 
Office Integrator

Built in document editors for web apps.

Office Integrator
 
ZeptoMail

Secure and reliable transactional email sending service.

ZeptoMail
 
QEngine

Test automation software to build, manage, execute, and report testcases.

QEngine
 
Tables

Work management tool to connect people, processes, and information.

Tables
 
NEW
RPA

Automate manual, tedious, and repetitive tasks easily.

RPA
 
NEW
Apptics

Application analytics for all apps.

Apptics
 
Embedded BI

Embedded analytics and white label BI solutions, tailored for your needs.

Embedded BI
 
NEW
IoT

Build, deploy, and scale IoT solutions for connected businesses.

IoT
 
DataPrep

AI-powered data preparation service for your data-driven organization.

DataPrep

IoT

 
NEW
IoT

Low-code IoT platform and solutions for connected businesses.

IoT

Search Result

 
CRM Plus

Unified platform to deliver top-notch customer experience.

Try now
CRM Plus
 
Service Plus

Unified platform for customer service and support teams.

Try now
Service Plus
 
Finance Plus

All-in-one suite to manage your operations and finances.

Try now
Finance Plus
 
People Plus

Comprehensive HR platform for seamless employee experiences.

Try now
People Plus
 
Workplace

Application suite built to improve team productivity and collaboration.

Try now
Workplace
 
Marketing Plus

Unified marketing platform for marketing teams.

Try now
Marketing Plus
 
All-in-one suite

Zoho One

The Operating System for Business

Run your entire business on Zoho with our unified cloud software, designed to help you break down silos between departments and increase organizational efficiency.

TRY ZOHO ONE
Zoho One
Zoho Marketplace

With over 2000 ready-to-use extensions across 40+ categories, connect your favorite business tools with the Zoho products you already use.

EXPLORE MARKETPLACE
Marketplace
Skip to main content

Manage Email Retention and eDiscovery 

An administrator's responsibility does not get over by just enabling eDiscovery for your organization. Managing the settings such as enabling/disabling eDiscovery for specific users, creating custom roles, etc. is equally important for admins. These settings can be monitored from the User Management section and the eDiscovery Settings section.

User Management

Admins can manage user roles, eDiscovery enabled/disabled status, create custom roles, etc. from the User Management section. Select the appropriate link to learn more about each section under User Management.

Users

The Users section lists your organization's users and their eDiscovery status (enabled / disabled). Below are the you can perform from the Users page:

Modify Retention Manually

Follow these instructions to manage eDiscovery for your organization's users:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to User Management and select Users.
  3. Click the enable/disable icon under the Mail eDiscovery Status column to manually enable or disable eDiscovery for a single user.
    Enable eDiscovery Manually
  4. Alternatively, you can select multiple users and click the Modify Mail eDiscovery Status drop-down.
  5. Select Enable mail eDiscovery/Disable mail eDiscovery based on your preference.
    Enable eDiscovery for Multiple Users

The retention status gets updated for the selected users.

Enable Retention for Bulk Users

Follow these instructions to modify the enable retention status using the import method:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to User Management and select Users.
  3. Click Modify Mail eDiscovery Status on the top menu.
    Modify Retention Status for Bulk Users
  4. Select Enable mail eDiscovery via import and download the sample CSV file.
    Download Sample CSV
  5. Upload the CSV file which contains the users list and click Enable.
  6. Verify the user details and click Enable.

Disable Retention for Bulk Users

Follow these instructions to disable the retention status using the import method:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to User Management and select Users.
  3. Click Modify Mail eDiscovery Status on the top menu.
    Modify Retention Status for Bulk Users
  4. Select Disable mail eDiscovery via import, and download the sample file.
  5. Upload the CSV which contains the users list, and click Disable.
  6. Click Disable to update the retention status.

Modify Retention for Domains

You can easily modify the retention status for all users of a domain from the Users page. Follow these instructions to modify the retention status for domains:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to User Management and select Users.
  3. Click Modify Mail eDiscovery Status on the top menu.
    Modify Retention Status for Bulk Users
  4. Choose Enable mail eDiscovery via domain, and select the desired domain for which you want to enable retention.
    Enable eDiscovery for Domains
  5. Select Disable mail eDiscovery via domain, and select the desired domain for which you want to disable retention.

The eDiscovery retention status gets updated for the domain based on your selection.

Shared Mailboxes

The Shared Mailboxes section in user management lists your organization's shared mailboxes and their eDiscovery status. From the shared mailbox section, you can:

  • Enable or disable retention for the shared mailboxes.
  • Apply the desired email filters for each shared mailbox.
  • View the storage of the shared mailbox.
  • Filter the shared mailboxes based on the eDiscovery status.

eDiscovery Shared Mailboxes

Roles

The super admin and all administrators of an organization, defined in the Zoho Mail Admin Console, have complete access to configuration and data on the eDiscovery portal.

For certain users, like legal admins, who require access only to the eDiscovery portal data, but do not require admin access to the mail settings or to the eDiscovery settings of the organization, an "Admin" access would be an overkill and may compromise the controls within the organization.

This also creates a significant amount of risk as all the users can access, control, search, export or even delete other user's data. As this data is sensitive in nature, it is advisable to limit the access to each user based on the specific requirement.

Roles allow Admins to have a more fine-grained control on who can access and what each user can do within the eDiscovery portal. There are two types of roles:

System Role

The System Role is pre-defined and users associated with this role have full-fledged access to all the actions in the eDiscovery portal. Users who need complete access to all actions in the eDiscovery portal should be assigned to this role. This being a System role, its permissions cannot be modified.

Note:

Enabling or disabling the eDiscovery service and user management permissions are not included in this Role. Users who need control on these two actions also, will need to be added as Admins in the Admin Console. Refer here on how to add an Admin.

Custom Role

For more fine-grained control, Admins can create Custom Roles. Permission for these roles can be customized by the admin as required. Admins can define as many Custom Roles as required and assign the users to more than one custom role as well.

custom role

Create a Custom Role

Follow these steps to create a custom role:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to User Management and select Roles.
  3. Click Add Custom Role under the Custom Role tab.
  4. Mention the Role name and Description.
  5. From the Permissions list, you can enable the required level of permission within each of the below mentioned modules:
    • Retention
    • Investigation (Owned by user or anyone)
    • Saved Search
    • Hold
    • Tag
    • Export
    • Audit Logs (Investigation)
    • Recovery
    • Export and Purge
    • Expunge
    • Audit Logs (System actions)
    • Email Filters
  6. You can narrow down the access based on the level of control under each module as View, Create, Update, Delete, and Download.
  7. Once you select the level of controls under each module, click Save to apply the changes.
    create custom role
  8. Now, go back and click on the Role name from the list to view the general description and permissions enabled for the same.
  9. Select Associated Users to view or add users for the said Custom Role.
    associate users for role
  10. Click Add to save the changes.

Note:

  1. You can assign the role to either one or several users at once.
  2. In case 2 or more users are assigned a same role, all these users will have the same privileges.
  3. If a single user is associated to 2 or more roles, the user will have combined permission of both custom roles.

Manage eDiscovery Storage

The user's mailbox, eDiscovery and Backup share the storage allocated to a user. If you no longer require certain emails in Retention, you can remove those in order to free-up the user's storage. Follow these steps to remove emails from retention:

Note:

Removing emails from retention to increase storage is a sensitive operation. The emails will be deleted forever and you won't be able to retrieve them.

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Navigate to Data Management and select Export and purge.
  3. Click New Export and purge.
    export and purge emails
  4. Enter a name for the export and select the desired account type:
    • All accounts - All user accounts and shared mailboxes will be included in the export and purge action.
    • Specific user accounts - Admins can export and purge the emails of a particular user by adding the user in the User mailboxes field.
    • Specific shared mailboxes - Admins can export and purge the emails in a particular shared mailbox by adding its address in the Shared mailboxes field.
  5. Click the duration drop-down and choose a preset range or Custom range.
  6. Select the start and end dates if you chose the custom range option.
  7. Add one or more Condition queries as per your requirement.
  8. If required, select the Include spam emails checkbox.
  9. Encrypt with password to prevent unauthorized access to your data.
  10. Select ZIP or PST and click Export & Purge.
    export and purge emails
  11. Enter the admin password in the dialog that appears and click Ok.
  12. Once the export gets completed, select the export and navigate to the Files tab.
  13. Hover over the exported file and click Download file.
    download exported file

The export process may take some time depending on the file size. Based on your selection, the emails are now removed from retention, thereby increasing the user's storage. You can view the current storage space status under the Users tab.

Note:

The files under Export And purge will be available only for 90 days. Hence download the files immediately after the status shows Completed.

Customizing eDiscovery settings

Enable / Disable eDiscovery

As an administrator, you can customize your eDiscovery portal from the Settings section. This section allows you to enable or disable eDiscovery for your organization. In case, you have already enabled eDiscovery and later, due to some unforeseen reason, wish to disable the service, then the emails that get delivered to your organization's user account will no longer be archived, while the older emails will be retained as per the existing retention policy.

Follow these steps to manage the retention status for your organization:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery on the left pane.
  2. Select the Mail tab and enable/disable eDiscovery based on your preference.
  3. Navigate to the Cliq tab and enable/disable eDiscovery as per your organization's requirement.
    eDiscovery Cliq Settings
  4. Navigate to the WorkDrive tab and enable/disable eDiscovery.
  5. Click Remove to provide you confirmation in the pop-up that appears.
    eDiscovery WorkDrive Settings

Auto-enable for new users

If you select Auto-enable for new users, emails will be archived as per the default retention policy for every new user joining the organization. In case, auto-enable for new user is disabled, an admin will still have the option to enable eDiscovery for the new user under the Users tab, whenever required, but manually.

Enable eArchive search access for users

Administrators can decide if users can access their permanently deleted emails and recover them directly from their mailbox. To allow users to access or recover the archived emails from their mailbox, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select eDiscovery from the left pane.
  2. Navigate to Settings under eDiscovery and select the Enable eArchive Search Access toggle switch.
    ediscovery user permission
  3. Select Enable for All Users. You have now enabled archived mail access for all the users in your organization.
    enable archived mail access
  4. Alternatively, select Go To UserManagement to manually configure eArchive Search access for one or more users.
  5. Hover over the desired user and click the admin icon under eArchive Search.
    enable ediscovery for users in mailbox
  6. Select the desired permissions from the available options:
    • Allow user to access their retained emails - This option enables eDiscovery access in the user's mailbox. With this permission, users can view deleted emails but cannot recover them. For more details refer to Access to retained emails.
    • Allow user to recover their retained emails - Allows the users to search the deleted emails and recover them back to their Inbox. For more details refer to the Steps to recover emails. You can enable this permission only if the Allow user to access their retained emails option is enabled.
  7. Click Save. The user can access the archived emails from his/her mailbox.
  8. You can also select multiple users and click eArchive Search from the top menu.
  9. Enable the eArchive Search toggle switch and select the desired permissions.
  10. Once done, click the Save button. eArchive access gets enabled for the selected users.
    eArchive access for multiple users

Recovery Cleanup

Administrators can set up a duration in order to clear the recovery stats in the eDiscovery.

recovery cleanup

eDiscovery Cleanup

The data stored in eDiscovery will be retained for the duration specified in the default retention policy or the custom retention policy. The custom retention policy which has the longest duration takes precedence over the other policies.

The emails in eDiscovery will be purged/deleted once in 10 days automatically. Admins can view the upcoming cleanup date in the eDiscovery Settings section. Emails will be cleaned up forever if it falls under any one of the below conditions:

  • If the email's retention period is over and it is not part of any Holds.
  • If your organization's subscription is expired for more than 30 days.

Still can't find what you're looking for?

Write to us: support@zohomail.com