You can select from several object types when creating a retention policy. Before you create a policy, review these considerations:

• Cascading deletions – When you delete an entire row for some object types, related objects and data are automatically deleted. Look for "the following items will also be deleted" in the descriptions below.

• Deletion restrictions – Some object types can't be deleted if other objects exist in the database.

• Specific values – Some object types let you delete specific values from existing rows without deleting the entire row. Cascading deletions and deletion restrictions don't apply when you delete specific values.

Record Data

Record data object types represent the actual data that exists on records in Slate.

Activity/Interaction

Deletes activities and interactions.

Note: You can choose from two bases for this object type:

• Activity & Interaction – Targets all activities and interactions, including payment activities unless you filter them out.

• Payment Activities – Targets only payment activities.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Expires Date, Private Comments, Public Comments, User

Address

Deletes addresses.

The following items will also be deleted: Address-scoped Field Values and Field Version History

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Notes

Application

Deletes application records.

The following items will also be deleted: Application-scoped Activities, Checklists, Courses, Decisions, Field Values, Interests, Materials, References, School Reports

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Deadline Extension, External ID, Submitted & Paid Date, Submitted Date

⚠️ Important

Not all application data is automatically deleted. Application-scoped form responses (including all reader forms) and application-scoped field version history aren't deleted by this retention policy.

To delete these, you need separate retention policies. Because the Retention Policy Editor can only delete form responses for specific forms, you might use the Retention Policies (Deprecated) tool to delete all form responses for each application.

Application Reference

Deletes application references and recommendations.

The following items will also be deleted: Application-scoped Checklist items and Activities associated with each reference; Reference-scoped Materials, Field Values, and Field Version History

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Address fields, Company, Email Address, Industry, Middle Name, Personal Message from Applicant, Phone Number, Prefix, Relationship, Submitted Date, Title, XML Data

Course

Deletes courses of any scope.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Credits, External ID, Grade, Grade Level, Level, Number, Semester, Term, Type

⚠️ Note: Not all course data is automatically deleted.

Custom course-scoped fields’ values and field version history are not automatically deleted by this retention policy.

To delete these, you need separate Field and Field Version History retention policies.

Dataset Record

Deletes dataset records. You can select a specific dataset to delete from, or use the Dataset Row base to delete records from multiple datasets.

The following items will also be deleted: Related Dataset Row field values in any scope that reference the deleted dataset records; Dataset-scoped Activities, Addresses, Articulations, Campaign Committees, Course Catalogs, Dataset Row Logins, Devices, Field Values, Gift Related Records, Research, Workflow Bins, Workflow Bin Users

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Key, Password, PIN, Username

⚠️ Custom field version history is not deleted

Dataset-scoped field version history is not automatically deleted.

To delete dataset fields’ version history, you need a separate Field Version History retention policy.

Decision

Deletes decisions from applications.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Assigned Letter, Comments, Confirmed Date, Decision Reason, Expires Date, Received Date, Released Date, Uploaded Letter

Device

Deletes devices (email addresses and phone numbers).

The following items will also be deleted: Device-scoped field values

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Notes

⚠️ Note: Not all course data is automatically deleted.

Custom device-scoped fields’ values and field version history are not automatically deleted by this retention policy.

To delete these, you need separate Field and Field Version History retention policies.

Duplicate Records

Removes potential record matches from Consolidate Records. Does not delete any actual records.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Redact Duplicate Record Data, Redact Main Record Data

Entity

Deletes entity rows.

The following items will also be deleted: Entity-scoped Field Values and Field Version history

Specific values that can be deleted separately: External ID

Field (Field Values)

Deletes values in custom fields.

⚠️ Note: Version history is not deleted

This policy doesn't delete field version history. When you delete field values, Slate adds a deletion record to the history and keeps the history itself. To completely clear field values (including version history), run a Field Version History policy after this policy.

Field Version History

Deletes the version history of values in custom fields.

Form Response

Deletes form responses from a specific form.

⚠️ Note: This policy targets only one form at a time.

To delete responses from multiple forms, use the Retention Policies (Deprecated) tool.

The following items will also be deleted: Activities and Interactions associated with the form response, all Form Response Field data (the values submitted on the form). Data that was added to records by the form submission is not removed.

Giving - Gifts

Deletes gifts.

The following items will also be deleted: Related Gifts, Gift-scoped Field Values and Field Version history, Materials

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Appeal, Campaign, External ID, Honoring - Other, Notes, Occasion, Opportunity, Pledge, User

Giving - Honoring (Gift Related Record)

Deletes gift related records.

Giving - Installments

Deletes gift installments.

The following items will also be deleted: Pledge Payments

Giving - Opportunity

Deletes gift opportunities.

The following items will also be deleted: Gift Opportunity Notes; Gift Opportunity-scoped Field Values, Field Version, and Materials

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Date, Description, External ID, Status, User

Giving - Opportunity Log (Notes)

Deletes gift opportunity notes.

The following items will also be deleted: Gift Opportunity Notes-scoped Field Values and Field Version

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Notes, Subject, User

Interest

Deletes interests.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Description, End Date, Frequency - Hours/Week, Frequency - Weeks/Year, Location - City, Location - Country, Location - Region, Order of Importance, Role, Start Date, Type

⚠️ Note: Not all interest data is automatically deleted

Custom interest-scoped fields’ values and field version history are not automatically deleted by this retention policy.

To delete these, you need separate Field and Field Version History retention policies.

Job

Deletes jobs.

The following items will also be deleted: Job-scoped Field Values and Field Version

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Annual Revenue, Bonus, Departure Reason, Description, Direct/Indirect Report, End Data, Function, Hours/Week, Industry, Key, Location - City, Location - Country, Location - Region, Order of Important, Other Function, Phone Number, Salary, Sector, Start Date, Starting Bonus, Starting Salary, Starting Title, Supervisor, Supervisor Title, Title, Total Employees, Website

Material

Deletes materials.

The following items will also be deleted: Checklist fulfillments, Material-scoped Field Value and Field Version (including all Material Metadata)

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Summary, Material Redaction

Ping

Deletes Ping data.

Record (Person)

Deletes Person records.

Deletion restrictions: Person records can’t be deleted if any of the following objects exist on the record:

• Application

• Enrollment

• Gift

• Payment Recurring

Those items must be deleted first.

The following items will also be deleted: Activity, Address, Campaign Committee, Course Articulation, Device, Field Value and Field Version, Form Response, Gift Related, Job, Material, Person Login, Research, School, Status History, Tag, Test, Workflow Bin, Workflow Bin User

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Birthdate, Deceased Date, External ID, First Name, Header, Last Name, Middle Name, Other Last Names Used, Password, Permanent Resident, PIN, Preferred First Name, Prefix, Primary Citizenship, Secondary Citizenship, Sex, Slate ID Override, SSN, Suffix

Relation

Deletes relationship records.

The following items will also be deleted: Relation-scoped Field and Field Version; Address, Job, and School (only if there is no related record)

Research

Deletes all research information from records.

The following items will also be deleted: Research Data and Research Data Version

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Notes

Research Data

Deletes individual research data points from records.

⚠️ Note: Version history is not deleted

This policy doesn't delete field version history. When you delete field values, Slate adds a deletion record to the history and keeps the history itself. To completely clear field values (including version history), run a Field Version History policy after this policy.

School

Deletes schools from a record. This does not delete any linked Organization records.

The following items will also be deleted: School-scoped Checklist, Course, Field, Material

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Awards, CEEB Code, Class Rank, Class Size, Conferred Date, Credit Hours, Degree, End Data, External ID, Field of Study, GPA, GPA Scale Honors, Language, Level of Study, Location - City, Location - Country, Location - Region, Major (Free Text), Major (Prompt), Major 2 (Prompt), Minor, Recalculated GPA, Start Date, Website, XML Data

⚠️ Note: Custom field version history is not deleted

This policy doesn’t delete field version history for custom school-scoped fields.

To delete that history, you need separate Field and Field Version History retention policies.

School Report

Deletes school reports.

The following items will also be deleted: Application-scoped Checklist and Activity associated with each school report; School Report-scoped Materials, Field Values, and Field Version History

Source Records

Deletes the association between records and sources. To delete the source itself, use a Sources retention policy instead.

The following items will also be deleted: the Activity/Interaction associated with the source from each record

Sport

Deletes sport objects.

The following items will also be deleted: Sport-scoped Field Value and Field Version

Specific values that can be deleted separately: External ID, Notes, Position, Rating

Status History

Deletes the history of record status changes.

Tag

Deletes tags from records.

Task

Deletes project tasks.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Description, URL, URL Title

Task Log

This object type deletes project task logs.

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Notes, Subject

Test Score

Deletes test scores. Select a specific test base to delete specific test types, or select the general test base to delete all test types.

The following items will also be deleted: Application-scoped Checklist associated with each test; Test-scoped Materials, Field Values, and Field Version History

Specific values that can be deleted separately: Alpha, Cancellation Reason, Cancelled Date, External ID, Location, Memo, Score #, Score # Percentile, Total Percentile, Total Score

Database Objects

Database object types control configuration elements in Slate rather than record data. These include lookup bases and other structural objects.

Activities/Interactions

Deletes activity/interaction configurations.

The following items will also be deleted: all activities/interactions associated with the deleted configuration(s)

Fields

Deletes field configurations.

The following items will also be deleted: all field values associated with the deleted field configuration(s)

⚠️ Note: Field version history is not deleted

This policy doesn't delete field version history. When you delete field values, Slate adds a deletion record to the history and keeps the history itself. To completely clear field values (including version history), run a Field Version History policy after this policy.

Materials

Deletes material configurations.

⚠️ Important: Delete materials before deleting material configurations

If you delete a material configuration, Slate doesn't delete materials of that type. Those materials still reference the deleted configuration, which can cause issues.

Always run a Record Data > Material retention policy before you delete material configurations.

Populations

Deletes Population configurations.

Deletion restrictions: You can't delete a population if a Tab is assigned to it. Remove tab assignments before you run the policy. See Custom Tabs.

The following items will also be deleted: Population assignments; Population-Aware Permission and Role assignments on User accounts

Prompts

Deletes prompt configurations.

The following items will also be deleted: All field values that use the deleted prompt. Other values in a multi-value field are not affected.

⚠️ Note: This policy doesn't delete field version history.

When you delete prompt values, Slate adds a deletion record to the history, but only the prompt's GUID is stored—not the prompt text itself. To fully remove all data including the GUID, run a Field Version History policy after this policy.

Sources

Deletes individual source imports. This doesn’t delete any data that has already been added to records or otherwise imported into system fields.

The following items will also be deleted: All source records and unmapped source data, including unmapped materials waiting in Batch Acquire

Tests

Deletes test configurations.

Deletion restrictions: You can't run this policy if test scores of the target type exist in the database. Delete those test scores first by running a Record Data > Test retention policy.

Translations

Deletes translation codes and content blocks.