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1. When Do One-on-one Chat Files Expire?

  • For DingTalk Exclusive Edition, if Dedicated File Storage is enabled, one-on-one chat files sent by employees are stored in dedicated storage and will not be cleaned up.
  • DingTalk Professional Edition only supports viewing chat records for internal one-on-one chats and internal groups. The maximum retention period is 10 years. On the activation date, historical chat records from the past 2 years can be queried, and records are retained for 8 years going forward. In the following year, text information from the past 3 years can be queried, and so on. If Professional Edition expires and is not renewed, files older than 90 days will be moved to the recycle bin.
  • If both participants in a one-on-one chat belong to the same enterprise and the enterprise uses Professional Edition, the chat is protected by the Professional Edition rule that retains chat files for 180 days.
  • If either participant in a one-on-one chat uses DingTalk Standard Edition, the chat is retained for only 90 days.
  • If the two participants in a one-on-one chat do not belong to the same enterprise, and both have enabled Professional Edition, the chat is still calculated according to Standard Edition rules and is retained for only 90 days.

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2. How Can I Know Whether My One-on-one Chat Files Are About to Be Cleaned Up? How Can I Back Them Up?

  • If your one-on-one chat files include files that will expire within 30 days and have not been backed up, DingTalk will remind you in the following ways.
  • In a one-on-one chat, click the search icon in the upper-right corner and open Files to view the historical file list for the current chat. If any files will expire within 30 days, an Expiring files entry will appear, showing all files that will be expired and deleted within 30 days.
  • Uploaded chat files can be saved to enterprise storage. On DingTalk desktop, go to DingTalk Drive > More > Chat File Upload Management, select the corresponding organization, and enable the option. Newly uploaded files in one-on-one chats, including chats with yourself, will then be saved to the enterprise storage of the organization shown in the upper-left corner, helping keep enterprise files safe.
  • Expiration reminders for one-on-one chat files cannot currently be turned off, but the reminders will stop after some time.

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3. Can Files Be Recovered After They Expire?

After expiration, files automatically enter the file recycle bin for the chat session. They remain in the recycle bin for another 30 days. After 30 days, they are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.