Sending a legal hold notice to custodians

Last published : Sep 15, 2026
As an eDiscovery Administrator, you can send a legal hold notice to custodians to inform them about the preservation requirements for a legal hold and request their acknowledgment.
Before sending the notice, review the recipients, sender details, subject, notice body, and confirmation questionnaire; after the notice is sent, custodians can acknowledge it through the OTP-protected acknowledgment link.
To send a legal hold notice to custodians:
  1. On the eDiscovery tab, select Legal Hold Notifications.
    The All Legal Holds page appears.
  2. On the Active tab, select the legal hold that you want to edit.
    The Legal Hold — Information page appears. For more information about fields available on this page, see Editing legal holds.
  3. Click Custodian Notice, and specify the following:
    Field Description
    Name of Notice Enter a unique name for the legal hold notice. Use a name that clearly identifies the purpose of the notice.
    Internal Notes (not sent) Enter internal notes about the notice. These notes are for administrative reference only and are not included in notices sent to custodians.
    Load from Template Select a template to populate the notice content. Review and edit the populated content before sending the notice.If the template includes merge tokens, keep the tokens where recipient-specific information is required. The system replaces these placeholders with actual values when the notice is sent.For example, {CustodianName} is replaced with the name of each custodian, and {HoldName} is replaced with the name of the legal hold. This helps personalize the same notice for different recipients.
    From Name Enter the name of the notice issuer. This name appears as the sender on the legal hold notice.
    From Email Enter the email address of the notice issuer. Custodians see this email address as the sender of the legal hold notice.
    To — Custodians / Recipients Specify the custodians who must receive the legal hold notice. You can enter one or more email addresses manually, separated by semicolons, or select Browse Custodians to choose custodians from the list.When you select Browse Custodians, the Add/Remove Custodians window appears. Select the required custodians, and then select Update. The selected custodians appear in the To — Custodians / Recipient section.To add custodians manually, enter one or more email addresses, and then click Add.To add all browsed custodians, click Select All.To remove selected custodians, click Remove Selected. The count of selected custodians is displayed on the Remove Selected option.To deselect selected custodians, clear the corresponding check boxes, or select Deselect All.
    Cc (comma-separated) Enter one or more email addresses of additional recipients to include in the notice. Separate multiple email addresses with semicolons.
    Subject Review the subject line that is populated automatically. Keep it if it is relevant to the notice, or enter a new subject line.
    Insert variable Select a merge token to insert a dynamic value in the subject. The token is replaced with the corresponding value when the notice is sent.
    Body Review the prepopulated notice content and update it as required for the legal matter. Use this field to provide preservation instructions, acknowledgment details, and other information that custodians must know before acknowledging the notice.
    Insert variable Select a merge token to insert a dynamic value in the email content. The token is replaced with the corresponding value when the notice is sent.
    Page Heading Enter the heading that is required to appear on the custodian confirmation page.
    Instruction text Enter instructions that custodians must review before answering the questionnaire.
    Question prompt/Type Enter the question that the custodian must answer as part of the acknowledgment process.Select the response type for the question, such as Yes / No, freeform text, single choice, or multiple choice.
    Add Question Adds another question to the questionnaire.
    Require Answer to Question Select this option to make the question mandatory. Custodians must answer required questions before they can complete the acknowledgment.
    Send a copy of changes to admin Select this option to send a notice summary email to the configured administrator email address.
    Cancel Click to discard the current changes and close the notice page without sending the notice.
    Save as Draft Click to save the notice without sending it. You can edit and send the draft later.
  4. Click Send Now.
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