Archiving and deleting legal holds

Last published : Sep 15, 2026
As an eDiscovery Administrator, you can archive or delete a legal hold when you no longer need to track custodians, send follow-up notices, or manage acknowledgments for the hold. Before you choose an action, understand the difference between archiving and deleting a legal hold.
  • Archive a legal hold when you want to remove it from the current legal hold workflow but retain it for later viewing or further action. You can archive only active and released legal holds. When you archive a legal hold, it is moved from its current status view to the Archived tab. If custodians are active on any notice, they are released from the hold and receive a release notice. Archived legal holds remain available on the Archived tab, where you can view the hold details and perform the available actions.
  • Delete a legal hold only when the hold and its notices are no longer required for viewing or further action. You can delete active, released, or archived legal holds. Deleted legal holds and notices are removed from the legal hold views and are not shown on any tab. After a legal hold is deleted, it cannot be viewed or restored.
To archive or delete a legal hold:
  1. On the eDiscovery tab, select Legal Hold Notifications.
    The All Legal Holds page appears.
  2. Do one of the following as needed:
    • To archive a legal hold, select the Active or Released tab.
    • To delete a legal hold, select the Active,Released, or Archived tab.
  3. Identify and review the legal hold that you want to archive or delete.
  4. In the Actions column, select the Delete or Archive icon.
    The Delete Confirmation dialog box appears.
  5. Perform one of the following actions:
    • To archive the legal hold, select Archive.
      The legal hold is archived and appears on the Archived tab. Custodians who are active on any notice are released from the hold and receive a release notice.
    • To delete the legal hold, select Delete.
      The legal hold and its notices are removed from the legal hold views and are no longer available for viewing or further action.
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