Using Expiration Date or any other date-type document field, you can configure an automated state change to ensure that approved documents expire after a set period of time. Expiration policies are configurable for each lifecycle, which allows you to apply different rules to different types of documents. For example, General Lifecycle may not use automatic document expiration, while Promotional Piece has a short expiration period, and Reference Documents puts expired documents in the Review Required state, rather than Expired.
Only the latest version of a document that meets the expiration criteria can expire.
When configuring an expiration policy, Vault allows you to modify:
- Date field that Vault uses to determine when to expire a document
- Lifecycle states from which a document can expire
- Lifecycle state that a document moves to when it expires
- Default expiration period that Vault applies when automatically setting the expiration date field
- Content, recipients, conditions, and timing of expiration notifications
Note: If there is no notification that occurs on the day that the document expires (zero day notification), the document will not expire. If you configure document expiration, including a zero day notification, later, Vault processes any documents with an expiration date older than or equal to today for expiration.
Vault cannot send zero-day notifications unless the document is in the Start state. This functionality applies even if the Only send notification from expiration start states option is unchecked.
How to Access Expiration Options
These settings are applied at the lifecycle level. To set them, navigate to Admin > Configuration > Document Lifecycles > [Lifecycle] > Expiration.
How to Configure the Expiration Policy
To configure the expiration policy, set the following fields:
| Field | Description |
| Expiration Field | Select a document field (must be a date field) to use as the basis for document expiration. By default, this is Expiration Date, but you can use any default or custom date field. Be sure that all document types which use the lifecycle also use this field. |
| Expiration Start States | Add the lifecycle states from which documents can expire. For example, you may want to automatically expire documents that are in Approved state, but not in Draft or In Review states. |
| Expiration Destination State |
Select the lifecycle state that Vault should assign to documents when they expire. For many, this will be Expired, but it may also be Requires Periodic Review or any other state. Vault does not send out notifications for an expiration policy unless a destination state is specified. Note that Vault does not expire or send out notifications for any documents already in the destination state. |
| Only send notifications from expiration start states | Select the checkbox to indicate that Vault should only send expiration notifications for documents that are in one of the expiration start states. For example, if this setting is on, Vault would not send a notification for a document in Draft state because the document cannot expire from that state. |
| Default Expiration Period (Days) | (Optional) Enter the period of time that Vault should use to default the document expiration date (the field selected for Expiration Field). Note that Vault will only default the expiration field if the document field is included in a workflow start dialog or workflow task and a user puts the document through that workflow. |
How to Configure Notifications
Notifications play an important role by warning users that a document will expire. Note that the state change portion of the expiration policy only occurs if there is a day 0 (the expiration day) notification configured. Other notifications are optional.
To add a notification:
- Click Add Notification from the Expiration page to open the notification details page.
- Fill in the timing (number of days prior to expiration).
- Select the message (editable from Admin > Configuration > Messages) to send.
- Select the document roles to receive notifications.
- When finished, click Save.
To edit an existing notification:
- Click on the notification from the Expiration page.
- Click Edit on the notification details page.
- Edit the details as needed and click Save.
To delete a notification:
- Click on the notification from the Expiration page.
- Click Delete on the notification details page.
Configuring Expiration with State Change
Many expiration policies automate the document’s move into the “expired” state. When configuring an expiration policy like this:
- Select an Expiration Destination State
- Include a notification that occurs on Day 0 (the expiration day)
Configuring Expiration without State Change
Some organizations want to configure expiration so that the document does not change states, but users receive notifications that the document is approaching the specified expiration date. When configuring an expiration policy like this:
- Select an Expiration Destination State
- Do not include a notification that occurs on Day 0 (the expiration day)