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Working with Retention Labels

Important

Please note that you must have completed the necessary setup for your selected repository in order to proceed. The necessary resources for setting up retention labels in Document Central can be found in the documentation Setting up Retention Labels.

How to Set Retention Labels Manually

Once the retention labels have been correctly set up via the Setting up Retention Labels, all labels will be automatically assigned to the correct documents, ensuring the necessary compliance for the document.

However, it can be defined by the administrator under the Manual Setup of Retention Labels whether users are allowed to change the retention label manually when saving documents.

The following steps must be completed to manually set a retention label for a document when saving via the Document Central fact box:

  1. Start in a fact box area in Document Central.
  2. Drag and drop a document or save it in the Document Central - Dropzone.
  3. After the Document Central - Document Definition page opens, a new area called Document Central - Additional Information will appear at the bottom of the page.
  4. Depending on the setup, you may either see a retention label here that cannot be edited or be able to edit or select a retention label and upload the file.

Note

Document Central administrators also have the option to set a retention label for a document after the initial save. You can find the new action Set Retention Label in the Document Central data grid. Execute this action to set a retention label for a selected document.

How to Set Retention Labels Retroactively

If you have already used Document Central without the retention label feature, you may want to label the existing Document Central documents retroactively. In this case, the so-called Retention Crawler can be used. The Retention Crawler is a dedicated queue that runs through the existing document entries and applies the labels according to the retention label configuration.

There are two ways to apply the retention label to existing documents using the Retention Crawler: the automatic and the manual method.

Automatic Setting of Retention Labels

The following steps must be completed to automatically apply retention labels to already saved documents using the Document Central - Retention Crawler. Make sure you have completed the documentation Setting up the Retention Crawler.

  1. The task queue Document Central Job Queue - Retention Crawler should run automatically (If not, the task queue Document Central Job Queue - Retention Crawler can be manually triggered on the Task Queue Items page).
  2. After the Document Central Job Queue - Retention Crawler has run, your documents will automatically be moved to the retention queue with a given retention label based on your configuration.

Manual Setting of Retention Labels via the Retention Crawler

The following steps must be completed to manually apply retention labels to already saved documents.

  1. Start in the role center Document Central - Administrator.
  2. Open the Document Central - Crawler List page via the Retention Crawler action in the Retention Label activities section.
  3. Use the action Start Crawling to search for documents that can be labeled according to their configuration.
  4. Select the documents to which you want to add the displayed retention label and use the action Add to Retention Queue to add the documents to the Retention Queue.
  5. After the documents have been added to the retention queue, the Document Central Job Queue - Set Retention Label should run automatically (If not, the job queue can be manually triggered on the Job Queue Entries page). In addition to the crawling function, an action in the Data Grid or on the Document Entries page can be used to manually set a retention label on a document.

Manual Setting of Retention Labels

If you have filed a document and want to assign a retention label to it afterwards, you can also do this manually. An action Retention Label has been added in each document view, through which you can manually assign retention labels.

Important

You can only assign retention labels as a Compliance Administrator. Enable the Compliance Administrator option in the user settings and the manual assignment of retention labels in the Compliance Setup.

Follow these steps to manually assign a retention label:

  1. Start in the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Open an area with Document Central Factbox where you want to manually assign a retention label.
  3. Select the document.
  4. In each view (Data Grid, Page, and List View), there is a retention label action.
  5. You can:
    • Assign a retention label
    • Remove a retention label
    • Change a retention label (Only if it is in the retention queue and has not yet been labeled)

Important

  • Azure Blob Storage: Manual retention label actions require the user to be a Compliance Administrator in Document Central.
  • SharePoint: Manual retention label actions in Document Central require the user to be a Compliance Administrator. In addition, the user must have sufficient permissions in SharePoint (typically being a member of the corresponding SharePoint group). For documents marked as records, the user must also be a Site Collection Administrator.

Toggle Record Lock (SharePoint Records)

If a document in SharePoint is marked as a record by a retention label, Document Central can display the record information and (for authorized users) allow changing the lock status.

Important

  • This feature is available for SharePoint repositories only.
  • The action can only be used for a single selected document.
  • Even if a record is unlocked in SharePoint, Document Central still prevents modifications in Business Central.

To toggle the record lock, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Document Central - Document Entries page (or the Datagrid).
  2. Select exactly one document that is Marked as Record.
  3. Choose the action Toggle Record Lock.
  4. The Record Lock Status is updated after a successful request.

Info

The action is only enabled for users who are set up as Compliance Administrator in Document Central and who have sufficient permissions in SharePoint (being a Site Collection Administrator).

Labeling Versions in Azure Blob Storage with Retention Labels

When using a repository of type Azure Blob Storage, individual versions of documents can also be labeled with retention labels manually or automatically.

For this purpose, the option "Search by Versions" is available in the compliance settings. When this option is enabled, the Document Central Job Queue - Retention Crawler additionally searches the versions of documents in Azure Blob Storage and captures the retention labels stored there.

Info

  • Each version of a document can contain its own retention label.
  • Retention labels are visible and traceable for all versions.
  • The retention labels for individual versions can be synchronized if necessary.

How to See Which Retention Labels Have Been Assigned

Info

To see which document contains a retention label, there is the Document Entries page, where you can see in a table whether your document is labeled. You can also see a retention label column in our Document Central data grid. Here you can also see if and which retention label has been set.

How to See Which Retention Labels Will Be Assigned in the Future

To see which documents will be labeled in the future, there is the Retention Queue page, where you can see if your document will be labeled. This page displays the labeling process with a status field. If an entry in the retention queue encounters an error during the labeling process, the error can be viewed on the Document Central - Log page. An entry in the retention queue is created in two ways.

Info

If a document is labeled manually, an entry in the retention queue is only created if the Set Retention After field is filled out or if the labeling date is set in the future during the upload process.

Changing a Retention Label

Document Central allows changing a retention label in certain scenarios. This is supported for both already labeled documents and entries in the retention queue.

Important

Azure Blob Storage: You can only change retention labels as a Compliance Administrator.

SharePoint: Changing or clearing retention labels also requires sufficient permissions in SharePoint. The user must be a member of the corresponding SharePoint group or must have similar rights. If the document is marked as a record, the user must be an Owner of the corresponding SharePoint group (or have equivalent permissions) and must be an Compliance Administrator in Document Central.

For details on how this maps to SharePoint permissions, see Site Collection Administrator.

Enable the Compliance Administrator option in the user settings and the manual assignment of retention labels in the Compliance Setup.

Retention Queue

If there is an entry in the retention queue for a document and it has neither been canceled nor already labeled, you can use the action Change Retention Label. This works for both SharePoint and Azure Blob Storage repositories.

The following steps are required to change a retention label in the retention queue:

  1. Start in the role center Document Central - Administrator.
  2. Open the Document Central - Retention Queue page via the retention queue tiles in the Retention Label activities section.
  3. Use the action Change Retention Label to open the dialog.
  4. Select the new retention label to be assigned to the document.
  5. Click OK to apply the new retention label.

Info

Here, only the applied retention label can be changed; the retention period is not editable. The labeling date via the retention queue cannot be changed. The start and end times displayed in the selection dialog reflect the actual labeling duration and cannot be adjusted.

Document Entry

If a document entry is already labeled, you can also change its retention label. This is only possible with a SharePoint repository, and the entry must not be marked as a Regulatory Record.

The following steps are required to change a retention label on a document entry:

  1. Start in the role center Document Central - Administrator.
  2. Open the Document Central - Document Entries page via the repository section in actions.
  3. Select a document entry and use the action Change Retention Label.
  4. Select the new retention label to be assigned to the document.
  5. Click OK to apply the new retention label.

Info

The start date of the retention label cannot be configured here, and any "Set Retention Label After" duration configured on the label will be ignored. Labeling begins immediately once you apply the change.

See Also