Records and retention

Records management decides how long a company keeps each kind of document and what happens when that time is up. A retention schedule might say invoices stay seven years, employee files stay a set time after someone leaves, and draft documents can be deleted sooner. Records tools apply those rules to real files, keep evidence that the rules were followed, and pause deletion when a legal hold applies.

Most companies keep records in several places at once: Microsoft 365, file shares, a document management system, email and line-of-business apps. Some tools listed here manage retention inside one platform, such as Microsoft Purview for Microsoft 365. Others, such as Gimmal and RecordPoint, apply rules across many systems from one place. Iron Mountain covers physical records, scanning and secure destruction alongside digital tools.

AI helps with the hardest part, which is classification. A retention rule only works if documents are labeled correctly, and nobody wants to label thousands of files by hand. Tools now suggest or apply labels based on content, flag sensitive data, and find duplicates and stale copies. Treat automatic labeling as something to test and sample, because a wrong label can mean deleting a record too early or keeping personal data too long.

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5 AI document management tools in records and retention

Microsoft Purview

by Microsoft

Data governance in Microsoft 365, with retention labels, records management, legal holds, eDiscovery and sensitivity labels.

OpenText

Enterprise information management, including content services, records management and archiving for large organizations.

Gimmal

Records management and information governance software that applies retention rules across Microsoft 365 and other repositories.

RecordPoint

Records management and data inventory across many systems, with retention, disposal and privacy request support.

Iron Mountain

Records storage, scanning and secure shredding services, with digital tools for indexing and finding converted records.

Defensible deletion is the goal. That means being able to show an auditor or a court which rule applied to a document, when it was disposed of, who approved it, and that no legal hold was in place. Look for disposition reviews, certificates of destruction for physical records, and reports that a records manager can hand to legal without rework.

Before buying, write down the retention schedule you actually follow, list the systems that hold records, and agree with legal and IT on who approves deletions and holds. Tools make a clear policy enforceable; they cannot decide the policy for you.

Physical records still matter for many offices. Boxes in storage rooms and offsite warehouses follow the same retention rules as digital files, and often hold the oldest and most sensitive material. Some companies scan paper and destroy the originals once the scans meet their legal and quality standards, while others keep certain originals for the full period. Either way, the index matters most: if nobody knows what is in a box, nobody can apply a retention rule or find a document when a request arrives.

Questions about records and retention

What is a legal hold?

A legal hold stops the deletion of documents that may be relevant to a lawsuit, investigation or audit, even if their retention period has ended. Records tools apply holds to people, mailboxes or folders and keep a log of when the hold started and ended.

Can AI label our records automatically?

Several tools suggest or apply retention labels based on document content. Accuracy varies with the document types, so start by sampling the results on a small set and keep a review step for labels that lead to deletion.

Do we need a separate records tool if we use Microsoft 365?

Microsoft Purview covers retention for content in Microsoft 365. Companies with records spread across many other systems often add a cross-system tool, so one schedule applies everywhere instead of separately in each app.

What should a retention schedule include?

Each record type, how long it is kept, what event starts the clock, who owns it and what happens at the end. Your legal and finance advisers should confirm the periods for your industry and locations; this site does not give legal advice.