How to Automatically Delete Old Form Submissions

Automatically deleting old submissions helps you apply a clear data-retention policy to each form. You choose the exact duration, and OpnForm permanently removes submissions once they are old enough.

Important: This is permanent deletion, not an archive or soft delete. Deleted submissions, their version history, and uploaded files cannot be restored.

Before You Start

• The setting is configured separately for each form.
• Automatic deletion is off by default.
• Export or archive any submissions you must keep before enabling the setting or shortening an existing retention period.
• The retention period applies to both completed and partial submissions.

Enable Automatic Submission Deletion

1. Open the form you want to configure.
2. Click Settings.
3. Select Submission Settings.

4. Find Submission Retention.
5. Enable Automatically delete old submissions.
6. Under Delete after, enter a value and choose Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. You can also use the shortcuts for 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, or 1 year.

7. Click Publish Form to save the policy.

You can enter any whole number from 1 to 3,650, such as 3 days, 45 days, or 18 months.

How the Retention Period Is Calculated

The age of a submission is measured from its last update, not only from its original submission date. Editing a submission starts a new retention period from the time of that edit.

OpnForm runs the cleanup every hour. Once a submission's last update reaches the retention cutoff, it is eligible for permanent deletion during the next cleanup run. Deletion may therefore happen shortly after the selected duration rather than at the exact minute.

What Gets Deleted

For every eligible submission, OpnForm permanently deletes:

• The completed or partial submission
• Its saved version history
• Uploaded files attached to that submission

The form itself and newer submissions are not affected.

Change or Disable the Policy

Return to Settings → Submission Settings → Submission Retention at any time.

• Shortening the duration: Existing submissions that are already older than the new cutoff can be deleted during the next hourly cleanup.
• Extending the duration: Submissions are kept until they reach the new cutoff.
• Turning the setting off: Future automatic cleanup stops for that form. Anything already deleted stays deleted.

Recommended Safety Checks

• Export submissions that must be retained for legal, operational, or customer-support reasons.
• Choose a duration with enough buffer for your review workflow.
• Double-check the value and unit before publishing, especially when switching between days, weeks, months, and years.
• If you are unsure, start with a longer duration and shorten it after reviewing your data-retention needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Restore an Automatically Deleted Submission?

No. The submission, its history, and its uploaded files cannot be recovered from OpnForm.

Does the Policy Apply to Existing Submissions?

Yes. Existing submissions are evaluated using their last update time. If they are already older than the configured duration, they can be removed during the next cleanup.

Does Editing a Submission Change Its Deletion Date?

Yes. Because retention is measured from the last update, editing a submission starts a new retention period from that update.

When Does Deletion Run?

The cleanup runs hourly. Eligible submissions are removed in the next run after they reach the cutoff.

Updated on: 11/08/2026