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Retention policies enable you to retain certain types of content in Box for a specified period of time, and remove content from Box that is no longer relevant. A retention report exports details of a particular retention policy, along with a list of all of the files the policy covers. Retention reports do not include files that have already met their retention requirements and been removed.
Note: Retention policy reports contain data up to 48 hours prior to the report being generated.

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Retention Report details

  • File format: comma-separated value (.csv) file
  • Filename format:data_retention_[policy name]_run_on_YYYY-MM-DD__HH-MM-SS-[A|P]M.csv
  • Folder name format (each report run is placed in its own folder):Retention run on YYYY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS
  • Filename and folder name time zone: the local date and time of the admin who ran the report or who set up the report schedule.

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Retention report information

Retention reports include details of a particular retention policy, along with a list of all of the files the policy covers. Retention reports include the following information about the retention policy, in addition to the report’s data columns:
Retention Policy InformationDescription
Policy NameThe name of the retention policy.
Policy Status

The status of the retention policy. Values can be:

  • active: The policy is active and retaining the designated files per the policy’s configuration.
  • retired: The retention policy is not retaining files.
Assignment Type

The content that the policy is applied to, taken from the Apply Policy To setting value. Values can be:

  • Folder(s): When Content within specific folders is selected as the policy setting.
  • Metadata: When Content with specific metadata is selected as the policy setting.
  • All: When All new content is selected as the policy setting.
Retention Type

The type of retention policy. Values can be:

  • Modifiable
  • Non-modifiable
Policy Time Period

The amount of time content is retained by policy, taken from the Time Period Duration policy setting. The values is the number of days.

Policy Disposition Action

The action taken on files once the policy time period ends, taken from the Disposition Action setting value. Values can be:

  • remove_retention: When None is selected as the policy setting, which means retention will be released on files governed by the policy.
  • permanently_delete: When Permanently delete content is selected as the policy setting, which means files governed by the policy will be irretrievably deleted.
Policy Created DateThe date, in UTC, that the retention policy was created.

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Retention report data columns

This section describes the data columns that are generated in Retention reports.
Data ColumnDescription
Parent Folder PathThe path from the root of your Box instance to the folder that contains the file.
Parent Folder Path IDsA number that uniquely identifies the parent folder.
File NameThe name given to the file.
File IDA number that uniquely identifies the file.
File Version IDA number that uniquely identifies the version of the file.
CreatedThe date, in UTC that the file was created.
UploadedThe date, in UTC that the version of the file was uploaded.
Disposition DateThe date, in UTC, on which the policy disposition action will take place for the file.
Trashed

Indicates if the file is in Trash when the report is run. Values can be:

  • Yes
  • No