Each form has a retention policy under Settings → Retention:
| Option | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Forever (default) | Submissions are kept until you delete them. |
| 1 year / 90 days / 30 days / 7 days | Submissions older than the period are deleted automatically, with their files. |
| Don't store (forward only) | Submissions are delivered to email and integrations, then discarded. |
The purge runs once a day. Deleted submissions can't be recovered, so export anything you need first (CSV or JSON from the submissions page).
Forward-only mode
With Don't store:
- nothing appears in your dashboard inbox;
- emails and integrations still receive every submission;
- deliveries are best-effort — failed deliveries can't be retried because there's no stored copy;
- uploaded files are kept for 7 days (so links in emails and webhooks work) and then deleted.
This is a good fit for privacy-sensitive forms where your system of record is elsewhere (a CRM, a helpdesk, a spreadsheet).