A Guide to Google Sites Retention

1. Introduction

2. Why data retention?

• Data retrieval in case of accidental deletion

  When a Google site is hard deleted, it is lost forever unless retention policies are in place. Using retention helps you manage data deletion and recovery efficiently, thus increasing business productivity.

• Storage management

  Google Workspace storage is shared between Gmail, Drive, Sites, Photos and Docs. The amount of free storage for each user depends on the type of account opted. Employees should not be forced to delete data once the storage limits are reached and at the same time, remove data that are no longer needed. Implementing retention policies saves storage costs by only retaining essential data.

• Statutory regulation & compliance

  Regulated industries such as healthcare, legal, and finance are required to retain certain data for a longer duration. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, for example, specifies the standards for financial document record-keeping and having controls in place to retain data.

3. Where is Google Sites data stored?

4. What happens when Google Sites data is deleted?

4.1. Limitations of default Sites retention

• Sites retained using the default retention is counted towards your Google Workspace storage quota, and you will need to purchase additional storage if you exceed the limit. The amount of free storage for each user depends on the type of account opted.

• As seen in the illustration, Sites data is permanently deleted after the 30-55 days timeframe.

5. Native retention settings using Vault

5.1. Retention rules

Default retention rules

• Step 1: Sign in to Google Vault.

• Step 2: Click ‘Retention’, and the select ‘Sites’.

• Step 3: Under ‘Duration’, choose how long files need to be retained.

  a. To permanently retain files, select ‘Indefinitely’.

  b. To discard files after a set time, select ‘Retention Period’, plug in the number of days it needs to be retained, and the start of the reference period

• Step 4: If a duration has been set, choose what to do with sites after the retention period ends:

  a. To purge only sites that users deleted, select ‘Purge only permanently deleted sites.’

  b. To purge all sites, choose the second option. This rule can purge both deleted sites and sites in Drive.

Custom retention rules

• Step 1: Sign in to Google Vault.

• Step 2: Click ‘Retention’, select ‘Custom Rules’, and then click ‘Create’.

• Step 3: Select ‘Sites’ under Service, and then click Continue.

• Step 4: Under ‘Scope’, choose an entity, and click ‘Continue’.

  a. Select ‘Organizational unit’ to apply the rule to a specific organizational unit and choose the unit. If you want to apply the rule to shared drives that accounts in the selected organizational unit are members of, enable ‘Include results from shared drives’.

  b. Select ‘All shared drives’ to apply the rule to all shared drives in the organization.

  c. Select ‘Specific shared drive’ to apply the rule to a shared drive shared with a specific account and choose the corresponding account(s).

• Step 5: Under ‘Duration’, choose how long files need to be retained.

  a. To permanently retain files, select ‘Indefinitely’.

  b.  To discard files after a set time, select ‘Retention Period’, plug in the number of days it needs to be retained, and the start of the reference period.

• Step 6: If a duration has been set, choose what to do with sites after the retention period ends:

  a. To purge only sites that users deleted, select ‘Purge only permanently deleted sites.’

  b. To purge all sites, choose the second option. This rule can purge both deleted sites and sites in Drive.

• Step 7: Click ‘Create’.

Retain Sites according to Drive rules

• Step 1: Sign in to Google Vault.

• Step 2: Click ‘Retention’ and navigate to the ‘Settings’ tab.

• Step 3: Next to Sites, select ‘Retained by Sites rule’ or ‘Retained by Drive rule’.

• Step 4: Click ‘Save’.

What Google Sites data can be retained using Google Vault?

5.2. eDiscovery holds to retain Sites data

6. Are Google Vault retention and eDiscovery ideal data backup solutions?

• User deletions: If a user is deleted from your Google Workspace account, all the associated Sites data also gets purged even if it was on hold or covered by a retention policy. This is because Google Vault does not make a second copy of the Sites data, it simply keeps it on hold to prevent deletions.

• Absence of restore feature: Sites data that is retained through Google Vault can only be exported and not directly restored back into your account.

• Google outages: Unexpected Google outages can result in data being inaccessible for hours. This can hugely impact business productivity.

• Cyber threats: If your Google Sites data falls prey to cyber threats such as ransomware, the data retained and held in Google Vault also gets affected.