Feature Request: Native Retention Policy Support with Backup and Export Integration
Dear Proton Developers,
Retention and deletion management in Proton Mail currently require manual intervention using labels and searches. Although message expiration (self-destruct) and trash/spam auto-delete exist, they don’t provide sufficiently customizable or automated retention control based on user-defined policies.
Proposed improvements:
Introduce native retention policies configurable per folder and/or label, with options like:
Keep emails forever
Keep in inbox for X days, then archive or export automatically
Delete immediately or after specified time periods
Integrate automated export/backup functionality to securely transfer emails to secondary encrypted storage before deletion, enabling safe archiving and compliance.
Provide a user interface to monitor, audit, override, and adjust retention settings easily.
Ensure these policies complement existing expiration and auto-deletion features for comprehensive lifecycle management.
This would greatly reduce the complexity of maintaining mailbox hygiene, increase user confidence in data retention, and align Proton Mail with best practices for privacy and compliance.
Thank you for considering this essential feature!
CeBr
shared this idea
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alex
commented
This would be soooooo awesome to have! Honestly even if I could just script this somehow I'd be okay with that.
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Vivienne
commented
FOR THE LOVE OF GODDESS YES! 1000X this.
I shouldn't have to learn a new programming language (sieve) to filter my email by.... DATE or length of time. How this functionality isn't in the basic feature set of the filter function is MIND BOGGLING.
This needs to be done 3 years ago.
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Bob
commented
I agree, Having folder-configurable retention policies is critical for managing my emails.
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Daniel Y
commented
Having folder-configurable retention policies is essential.
For my purposes, I want subscription emails to move to a folder and then automatically delete after 90 days for example.