--- sourceDocument: Brazil ServiceNow AI Platform Administration sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/platform-administration Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Brazil ServiceNow AI Platform Administration ft:clusterId : - platadm bundleId : - platadm workflow : - Platform --- # Email retention # Email retention {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Email retention Email retention in ServiceNow enables you to archive and eventually destroy email messages that are no longer needed or when the Email table becomes excessively large. This feature has been available since the Helsinki release and helps maintain system performance and data management by moving older email records to an archive and deleting them after a specified period. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Email Archiving and Destruction Plugins:** Utilizes the Data Archiving and Email Retention plugins. The Data Archiving plugin must be active to archive and destroy email records, while the Email Retention plugin defines rules for when emails are archived and destroyed. * **Default Retention Rules:** * Emails older than one year that are of type received-ignored or sent-ignored are archived. * Archived emails older than one year are destroyed. This results in emails being retained for approximately two years total (one year in the main Email table and one year in the archive). * **Activation and Compatibility:** * On new instances, the Email Retention plugin and rules are active by default. * On upgraded instances, manual activation of the plugin and rules is required. * If an existing email management process is in place, it is recommended to deactivate it before enabling Email Retention to avoid conflicts. * **Manual Archiving:** Allows on-demand archiving of email messages without waiting for scheduled jobs. * **Preservation of Watermarks:** Watermarks required for inbound email actions are preserved even when email records are destroyed, ensuring inbound email functionality continues uninterrupted. ## Impact on Email Functionality * Archiving moves emails out of the Email table, which removes the "Sent Email" section from the activity formatter for those messages. * Deleted archived emails are no longer visible in activity formatters or work notes. * Inbound email replies are matched using record numbers or watermarks rather than the In-Reply-To field once emails are archived. * Setting an appropriate archive time ensures users retain access to sent emails as needed within the activity formatter. ## Recommendations for ServiceNow Customers * Review and approve the default archive and destroy rules before activating them, especially on upgraded instances. * Avoid running multiple email retention or record management processes simultaneously to prevent accidental record deletion. * If replacing an existing email management process with Email Retention, coordinate with ServiceNow professional services or sales representatives for assistance. You can archive and eventually destroy email messages that you no longer need or if your Email table is excessively large. Email retention is available starting with the Helsinki release. ## Email archive and destruction plugins The email archiving and destruction feature uses the [Data archiving](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/IkzJUZBcwwFgvOwwOuloHg "System Archive enables you to manage table growth by moving inactive records out of primary tables into dedicated archive tables within the same instance.") and [Email Retention](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/NFRr5a1r0Qh2pbALTUFM8g "The Email Retention plugin provides archive and destruction rules for email messages. It is active by default for new instances, but must be activated for upgrades.") plugins. The Data Archiving plugin must be active to archive and destroy email records. The Email Retention plugin provides a set of rules that specify when the system archives and destroys email records. Note: The Email Retention plugin also prevents the system from deleting watermarks, which are required for inbound email actions to continue to function. The Email Retention plugin and associated archive and destroy rules are active by default on new instances. On upgraded instances, you must manually activate both the plugin and the archive and destroy rules. ServiceNow recommends that you review and approve these rules before activating them. If your instance already has a process to manage email records, you do not need to activate the Email Retention plugin. If you want to replace your current process with Email Retention, be sure to deactivate the current process before activating the archive and destroy rules. ## Archiving and destroying email records Archiving means moving records from the Email \[sys_email\] table to the Archive Email \[ar_sys_email\] table when they exceed the archive rule time limit. Destroying means deleting records in the Archive Email table when they exceed the destroy rule time limit. Note: When a destroy rule deletes email records, associated watermarks are not deleted. They are preserved to ensure that your inbound email actions continue to function. ## Default archive and destroy rules Email Retention provides this email archive rule:{#email-retention__archive_destruction_rules} Email - Over a year old or Ignored: archives email message records that were created more than 365 days prior to the current date and are of type received-ignored or sent-ignored. Email Retention also provides this email destroy rule: Email Archive - Over a year old: destroys email records that have been archived for more than 365 days prior to the current date. With these default settings, your email messages are kept on the instance for a total of two years: one year in the Email table, and one year in the Email archive table. At the end of this period, the system deletes the expired email records from the Email archive table. Note: By default these rules are active on new instances and inactive on upgrades. The system runs archive and destroy rules when you activate them. ## Compatibility with other record management implementations If you are already using another method to manage email records, such as table cleaners, you do not have to use the Email Retention feature. To prevent unexpected record deletion, ServiceNow recommends that you avoid using multiple email management processes on the same instance at the same time. Note: For assistance replacing your existing record management implementation with Email Retention, contact your professional services or sales representative. ## Effects of archiving and deleting email records Inbound email actions copy the body of an email to the work notes of the related record. If the inbound email record is later deleted, Email Received section is no longer visible in the work notes though it still contain a text copy of the email. When the system sends an email message about a record, the activity formatter displays a Sent Email section with a link to the email message. If the system archives the email message, the activity formatter removes Sent Email section. When the system deletes the email message, it is no longer visible in the activity formatter nor the work notes. Note: Set the archive time length long enough so your users can access sent emails though the activity formatter. Archiving email records changes the methods available to the system to identify inbound email as a reply. After archiving an email record, the system can no longer use the In-Reply-To field to match an incoming email to an email record. However, the system can still match incoming email to an existing record from a record number or watermark. * **[Activate Email Retention](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/NFRr5a1r0Qh2pbALTUFM8g)** The Email Retention plugin provides archive and destruction rules for email messages. It is active by default for new instances, but must be activated for upgrades. * **[Archive email manually](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/rnaykR1FuAcB5z6dt5vb~Q)** You can archive email messages manually on demand instead of waiting for the instance to archive them based on a scheduled job. **Related concepts** * [Email notifications dashboard](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/x50Zw_2e3K2br8L_12VN_Q "The email notification dashboard provides visibility into key metrics and enables admins to configure the dashboard to enable access to other users.") * [Email diagnostics dashboard](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/apKiI5R1ebO16XfsFK3hvA "The email diagnostics dashboards provide visibility in to email delivery metrics that can help in improving the email health by identifying errors and areas that need deeper investigation.") * [Email templates](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/fiQyXY7j1pUKcWTEoofD1w "Email templates enable administrators to create reusable content for the subject line and message body of email notifications.") * [Email layouts](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/XAqsDRg3VSEOt3hzFTpeRA "Create reusable content for the message body of email templates.") * [Watermarks on notification emails](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/TVju~bKzJxsHy1VKG1OKfA "By default, a unique watermark label will be generated at the bottom of each notification email to allow matching incoming email to existing records.") * [Email digests](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/cngIG1SFlbExNQch_nuNMQ "An email digest is a single email that summarizes the activity for a selected notification and its target records during a specified time interval. You can enable an email digest to reduce the number of notifications received when frequent updates to the associated records occur within a short time period.") * [Domain separation and Notifications](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/xc7QJls83tKeJIX2nCmZsg "Domain separation is supported in the Notifications application. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.") * [Email FAQs and troubleshooting notification emails](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/ZnbQwt2vL9ax_geyUAjwig "Logs and diagnostics are provided to help determine whether notification emails are being sent and received successfully, what any issues are, and who receives the email.") **Related tasks** * [Create notification categories](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/owq1NYvQjB1PSFpkv3hF_A "You can create notification categories to identify and group related notifications that are listed in the notification settings for your users.") * [Create an email notification](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/EfGiZdgVdKwVxf0BGKkAnA "Create an email notification specifying when to send it, who receives it, what it contains, and if it can be delivered in an email digest.") * [Parse an email thread](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/vqC7ubTHwvR3k8TdRfKpzA "When an email is received, parse the most recent message in an email thread by creating Email Reply Separators using specified string or regular expressions.")