How do I set up a new Acrobat retention policy for my team?

Access your account or group-level admin settings in Acrobat. Find the 'Retention Policies' section to begin creating a new rule. Choose the number of days (1 to 5475) you want documents to be kept. Select if the policy will use a password or certificate for security. Apply this policy to documents once they are in their final 'terminal state'. Save the policy so it can be reused for other documents.

What is the difference between a password-based and a certificate-based security policy in Acrobat?

Feature Password-based Security Certificate-based Security. Method Uses a secret word or phrase to protect the document. Uses a digital ID (certificate) to verify identity and protect. Access Anyone with the password can open the document. Only users with the correct digital certificate can open. Management Easier to set up, but passwords can be shared or forgotten. More secure, but requires managing digital certificates.

Practical Sales Retention Policy in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

1 way to ask · copy any one

DBecome — “help me grow”Retention requests keep creating work for Sales and slow deals. Across the last year, show…+

Retention requests keep creating work for Sales and slow deals. Across the last year, show which retention settings caused the most friction and recommend one policy change or exception path that satisfies auditors and keeps Sales operational.

when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed.

How to do it

the tool · the steps · what to avoid

1
Sign in to the Adobe Admin Console using your administrator credentials.
2
Navigate to the storage management section in the Admin Console.
3
Select the option to manage individual user folders from the available storage management options.
4
Locate and select the retention policy option.
5
Choose whether to retain inactive user folders permanently or set a custom retention period (e.g., 30, 90, 365 days).
CautionSetting a shorter retention period will result in automatic deletion of user content after the specified time.
6
Confirm and save your retention policy settings.

In the appWith the API

You can view and manage retention settings for both active and inactive user folders directly in the Admin Console under Storage.

This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.

Glossary

words on this page

Retention PolicyA set of rules that decides how long documents are kept and how they are handled.ExampleOur company's retention policy states that all invoices must be kept for seven years.

Terminal StateThe final stage of a document, after which no more changes are expected.ExampleOnce approved and archived, the contract reached its terminal state, meaning no further edits were allowed.

Certificate-basedA security method that uses a digital ID to prove who you are and to protect files.ExampleAccessing the secure server required certificate-based authentication to prove your identity.

Who does this

3 roles

IT AdministratorEnterprise Storage ManagerCompliance Officer

FAQ

about this task

An Acrobat retention policy sets rules for how long your digital documents are stored. It matters because it helps your business follow legal requirements, like keeping financial records for a certain number of years. It also ensures old, unneeded documents are eventually removed, improving data management and security.

Access your account or group-level admin settings in Acrobat.
Find the 'Retention Policies' section to begin creating a new rule.
Choose the number of days (1 to 5475) you want documents to be kept.
Select if the policy will use a password or certificate for security.
Apply this policy to documents once they are in their final 'terminal state'.
Save the policy so it can be reused for other documents.

If your company needs to follow HIPAA rules, Acrobat's retention policy helps by letting you set specific time limits for how long patient records are stored. For example, you can set a policy to keep records for 10 years, which aligns with common healthcare data retention requirements. This ensures sensitive information is managed correctly over time.

Feature	Password-based Security	Certificate-based Security
Method	Uses a secret word or phrase to protect the document.	Uses a digital ID (certificate) to verify identity and protect.
Access	Anyone with the password can open the document.	Only users with the correct digital certificate can open.
Management	Easier to set up, but passwords can be shared or forgotten.	More secure, but requires managing digital certificates.

Regular Acrobat users cannot see or change retention policies because these settings are for administrators. Retention policies are part of the 'back-end' or 'admin form' of document protection, designed to control how documents are managed across an entire organization. This ensures consistent rules and compliance, preventing individual users from accidentally changing important company-wide settings.

Practical Sales Retention Policy

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

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