For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt. You can also append .md to any page URL to get its markdown version.
Skip to main content
For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt.

For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt

Document retention and deletion lifecycle

This page provides an overview of the document retention lifecycle and how documents are managed in our document storage service.

Unassigned documents​

When you upload a document without immediately assigning it to a signing session (an "orphan" document), it has an initial retention period of 30 minutes.

If the document remains unassigned after 30 minutes, it is soft-deleted. This means that its API access is revoked and any subsequent requests to retrieve it return a 404 Not Found response. You can also request deletion through the API. Deletion requests are processed in the background.

Note

Soft-deleted documents are not physically deleted immediately; they enter the standard 7-day grace period before physical deletion.

Assigned documents​

Once you add a document to a signing session, the session dictates the document's retention period based on its dueDate (up to a maximum of 45 days). The document is soft-deleted when the session reaches its dueDate or if you manually delete the signing session or the document.

Physical deletion and backups​

Once a document undergoes soft-deletion (whether due to unassigned timeout, session expiration or manual deletion) it enters a multi-stage cleanup process:

  1. 7-day grace period: The document remains in active storage but is completely inaccessible via the API. After 7 days, a cleanup job physically deletes it from our document storage service.
  2. 30-day backup retention: Following physical deletion, backups are retained for an additional 30 days before the document is permanently deleted.

Standard session expiration example​

For a signing session configured with a 30-day lifetime, where the document was uploaded on Day 0, the following applies :

  • Day 30: The session reaches its dueDate. The document is soft-deleted and becomes inaccessible.
  • Day 37: 7 days after the dueDate is reached, the cleanup job runs and physically deletes the document.
  • Day 67: After 30 days of backup retention, the document is permanently deleted from all system backups.

Document retention and deletion diagram​

The following diagram illustrates the document retention and deletion process, showing what happens logically and physically to a document when sessions expire, when documents remain unassigned or when deletion endpoints are called:

On this page