Short answer: A team chat retention policy you can explain. Put the current file, the decision and the next owner in one channel. Basic is 9 USD per paid account a month, or 86 USD a year, with 25 GiB. The trial is 3 days. The iPhone and iPad app is coming soon. The encryption scope is on the security page.
Say how long messages and files stay, who can export them, and what a backup restores. Slack Free is the history case we already document.
Author: BusyVault ·
Say what stays, who exports, what a backup restores
A retention policy answers three questions. How long do messages stay visible? Who can export them? What does a backup restore, and what must you keep as the original file? Slack Free's 90-day history is the public case this site already explains. Your own policy should be just as specific.
Test a restore before you need it
Owners and administrators can export a BusyVault workspace backup. After a restore, check the text, the file references and who can open them. Keep the original files until that check passes. A policy that has never been tried is a sentence, not a control. security review
Restore once during the pilot
Say how long messages stay visible, who can export them, and where the original files live. Slack Free's 90-day history is the public case this site already explains. Owners and administrators can export a BusyVault backup of a workspace or a channel. After a restore, check the text, the file references and who can open them. Keep the originals until someone other than the person who made the backup has opened the restore. Write the three answers in the channel topic, not only in a policy file. A retention rule that has never been restored is a sentence you hope is true.
Three answers, then a restore
How long are messages visible? Who can export them? Where do the original files live if a backup only keeps a reference? Write those answers in the channel topic of the pilot project. Slack Free's history window, about 90 days, is the example this site already documents, so your own answer should be just as specific. On BusyVault, owners and administrators can export a workspace or channel backup. Restore it once before you promise a client the room is the record. Someone who did not create the backup should open it and find the text, the file reference and the right access. Until that happens, keep the originals. A policy PDF that nobody has tested is not yet a control.
Worked example for this guide
Use “A team chat retention policy you can explain” on one project that is already late, not as a policy for the whole company. Write the current file name, the decision and the next owner in the same channel before the day ends. A teammate who was away should find that trio without opening the call recording. If they cannot, the article has not been applied yet. Repeat the check the next morning. Count a written handover as done only when the second person opens the right file first.
Files, history and the next owner
On A team chat retention policy you can explain, keep the file next to the sentence that approved it. Slack documents a 1 GB cap on one upload and, on the Free plan, 90 days of visible history. Those two limits are the public facts this site already cites.
BusyVault bills storage per paid account: 25 GiB on Basic and 100 GiB on Pro. Extra storage is 0.03 USD per GiB a month after you confirm the charge. Basic is 9 USD a month or 86 USD a year. Pro is 30 USD a month or 288 USD a year. One subscription does not cover the team.
The trial is 3 days and 10 GiB. Use it to upload a real file and to search for a decision, not to announce a company-wide move. If the file does not fit or the old decision cannot be found, say so in the channel before you promise the room is the archive.
Where the app runs
BusyVault runs in the browser and can be installed from Chrome or Edge on Windows, macOS and Linux. The Android app is on Google Play and uses the same account. The iPhone and iPad app is coming soon. Enterprise customers can run BusyVault on their own servers under a separate contract. There is no public installer on this site for that path. This page does not claim SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA.
A check you can finish this week
For A team chat retention policy you can explain, finish four lines and stop. Line one is the project name. Line two is the channel name. Line three is where the current file lives. Line four is the next owner. Add one rule for meetings: what must be decided live, and what must be written down the same day.
Ask someone who was not on the call to find the file without help. If they open the right channel first, the structure works. If they search three threads and still ask which version is current, move the file to the channel and leave a pointer. Owners and administrators can export a BusyVault backup from workspace or channel settings. After a restore, check the text, the file references and who can open them. Keep the original files until that check passes. Product questions go to the address on the support page.