Compliance configuration settings

Available on Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced plans

Review and manage the following compliance configuration options in the System Console by selecting the Product menu, selecting System Console, and then selecting Compliance:

• Data Retention Policies
• Compliance Export
• Compliance Monitoring
• Custom Terms of Service

+Tip

System admins managing a self-hosted Mattermost deployment can edit the config.json file as described in the following tables. Each configuration value below includes a JSON path to access the value programmatically in the config.json file using a JSON-aware tool. For example, the MessageRetentionHours value is under DataRetentionSettings.

• If using a tool such as jq, you'd enter: cat config/config.json | jq '.DataRetentionSettings.MessageRetentionHours'
• When working with the config.json file manually, look for an object such as DataRetentionSettings, then within that object, find the key MessageRetentionHours.

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Data retention policies

Changes to properties in this section require a server restart before taking effect.

!Warning

• Once a message or a file is deleted, the action is irreversible. Please be careful when setting up a custom data retention policy.
• From Mattermost v9.5, data retention removes Elasticsearch indexes based on the day of the retention cut-off time.

Access the following configuration settings in the System Console by going to Compliance > Data Retention Policies.

Global retention policy for messages

Set how long Mattermost keeps messages across all teams and channels. This value is not used for any teams and channels that have a custom retention policy applied . Requires the global retention policy for messages configuration setting to be set to true.

By default, messages are kept forever. If Hours, Days, or Years is chosen, set how many hours, days, or years messages are kept in Mattermost. Messages older than the duration you set will be deleted nightly. The minimum message retention time is one hour.

The global retention time for messages can be superseded on a team or channel level by creating custom policies with unique post retention times See the Custom retention policy section below for details.

This feature's config.json setting is "MessageRetentionHours": 1 with numerical input.

iNote

From Mattermost v9.5, MessageRetentionDays has been deprecated in favor of MessageRetentionHours. See deprecated configuration settings for details.

Global retention policy for files

Set how long Mattermost keeps files across all teams and channels. Custom policies on team and channel level don't apply to file attachments. The global retention time for files will be used even if a custom policy for messages is in place. Requires the global retention policy for files configuration setting to be set to true.

By default, files are kept forever. If Hours, Days, or Years is chosen, set how many hours, days, or years files are kept in Mattermost. Files older than the duration you set will be deleted nightly. The minimum file retention time is one hour.

This feature's config.json setting is "FileRetentionHours": 1 with numerical input.

iNote

From Mattermost v9.5, FileRetentionDays has been deprecated in favor of FileRetentionHours. See deprecated configuration settings for details.

Preserve pinned posts

From Mattermost v10.10, controls whether pinned posts are preserved when data retention policies delete messages. When enabled, pinned posts won't be deleted by data retention policies, even if they exceed the configured retention period.

True: Pinned posts are preserved and won't be deleted by data retention policies.

False: (Default) Pinned posts are deleted according to the configured data retention policy.

This feature's config.json setting is "DataRetentionSettings.PreservePinnedPosts": false with options true and false.

iNote

• This global configuration setting must be enabled with mmctl using the mmctl config set command.
• This configuration setting applies to team and channel policies as well as data retention, and can't be overridden in those more granular team or channel policies.
• Files attached to the pinned message aren't preserved.
• Only the pinned post is preserved. If it's attached to a thread or if it's the root post of a thread, the other threaded messages aren't preserved.

Custom retention policy

Set how long Mattermost keeps messages across specific teams and channels by specifying a name for the custom retention policy, setting a duration value in days or years, and specifying the teams and channels that will follow this policy. The attachment retention time cannot be set on custom policy levels and the global retention time for attachments is always applied.

Data deletion time

Set the start time of the daily scheduled data retention job. Choose a time when fewer people are using your system. Must be a 24-hour time stamp in the form HH:MM.

This setting is based on the local time of the server.

This feature's config.json setting is "DeletionJobStartTime": "02:00" with 24-hour timestamp input in the form "HH:MM".

Run deletion job now

Start a Data Retention deletion job immediately. You can monitor the status of the job in the data deletion job table within the Policy Log section.

Time between batches

The time in milliseconds between batches processed during data retention job execution. This setting helps control the rate at which data is deleted to reduce database load during retention operations.

Default is 100 milliseconds. Possible values are any non-negative integer (≥ 0).

This feature's config.json setting is "TimeBetweenBatchesMilliseconds": 100 with numerical input.

Retention IDs batch size

The number of retention IDs to process in a single batch during data retention job execution. This setting controls how many items are processed together for optimal performance.

Default is 100. Possible values are any non-negative integer (≥ 0).

This feature's config.json setting is "RetentionIdsBatchSize": 100 with numerical input.

Boards retention days

Set how long Mattermost keeps boards data. When set to a value greater than 0, boards data older than the specified number of days will be deleted during retention job execution only when boards deletion is enabled via EnableBoardsDeletion.

Default is 365 days. Possible values are any non-negative integer (≥ 0).

This feature's config.json setting is "BoardsRetentionDays": 365 with numerical input.

Enable message deletion

True: Message deletion is enabled during data retention job execution.

False: Messages are not deleted during data retention job execution.

This feature's config.json setting is "EnableMessageDeletion": false with options true and false.

iNote

When EnableMessageDeletion is set to false, messages will not be deleted regardless of other retention policy settings.

Enable file deletion

True: File deletion is enabled during data retention job execution.

False: Files are not deleted during data retention job execution.

This feature's config.json setting is "EnableFileDeletion": false with options true and false.

iNote

When EnableFileDeletion is set to false, files will not be deleted regardless of other retention policy settings.

Enable boards deletion

True: Boards deletion is enabled during data retention job execution.

False: Boards data is not deleted during data retention job execution.

This feature's config.json setting is "EnableBoardsDeletion": false with options true and false.

iNote

When EnableBoardsDeletion is set to false, boards data will not be deleted regardless of other retention policy settings.

Batch size

The number of records to process in a single batch during data retention job execution. This setting controls how many records are processed together for optimal performance.

Default is 3000. Possible values are any non-negative integer (≥ 0).

This feature's config.json setting is "BatchSize": 3000 with numerical input.

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Compliance export

Access the following configuration settings in the System Console by going to Compliance > Compliance Export.

Enable compliance export

True: Mattermost will generate a compliance export file that contains all messages that were posted in the last 24 hours. The export task is scheduled to run once per day. See the documentation to learn more.

False: Mattermost doesn't generate a compliance export file.

This feature's config.json setting is "EnableExport": false with options true and false.

Compliance export time

Set the start time of the daily scheduled compliance export job. Choose a time when fewer people are using your system. Must be a 24-hour time stamp in the form HH:MM.

This setting is based on the local time of the server.

This feature's config.json setting is "DailyRunTime": 01:00 with 24-hour timestamp input in the form "HH:MM".

Export file format

File format of the compliance export. Corresponds to the system that you want to import the data into.

Currently supported formats are CSV, Actiance XML, and Global Relay EML.

If Global Relay is chosen, the following options will be presented:

Global Relay customer account

Type of Global Relay customer account your organization has. Can be one of: A9/Type 9, A10/Type 10, or Custom.

This feature's config.json setting is "CustomerType": "A9" with options "A9, "A10", and CUSTOM.

Global Relay SMTP username

The username for authenticating to the Global Relay SMTP server.

This feature's config.json setting is "SmtpUsername": "" with string input.

Global Relay SMTP password

The password associated with the Global Relay SMTP username.

This feature's config.json setting is "SmtpPassword": "" with string input.

Global Relay email address

The email address your Global Relay server monitors for incoming compliance exports.

This feature's config.json setting is "EmailAddress": "" with string input.

SMTP server name

The SMTP server name URL that will receive your Global Relay EML file when a custom customer account type is configured.

This feature's config.json setting is ".MessageExportSettings.GlobalRelaySettings.CustomSMTPServerName": "" with string input.

SMTP server port

The SMTP server port that will receive your Global Relay EML file when a custom customer account type is configured. Default is "25".

This feature's config.json setting is ".MessageExportSettings.GlobalRelaySettings.CustomSMTPPort": "25" with string input.

Custom header name

An optional custom header added to each exported EML file when a custom customer account type is configured. Both the custom header name and value must be set, or both left blank to omit. A save is rejected if only one of the two is set, or if the name reuses a header the export already writes (such as From, To, Subject, or X-GlobalRelay-MsgType).

This feature's config.json setting is ".MessageExportSettings.GlobalRelaySettings.CustomHeaderName": "" with string input.

Custom header value

The value sent with the custom header when a custom customer account type is configured. Both the custom header name and value must be set, or both left blank to omit. A save is rejected if only one of the two is set, or if the name reuses a header the export already writes.

This feature's config.json setting is ".MessageExportSettings.GlobalRelaySettings.CustomHeaderValue": "" with string input.

Message export batch size

This setting isn't available in the System Console and can only be set in config.json.

Determines how many new posts are batched together to a compliance export file.

This feature's config.json setting is "BatchSize": 10000 with numerical input.

Run compliance export job now

This button initiates a compliance export job immediately. You can monitor the status of the job in the compliance export job table.

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Compliance monitoring

Settings used to enable and configure Mattermost compliance reports.

Access the following configuration settings in the System Console by going to Compliance > Compliance Monitoring.

Enable compliance reporting

True: Compliance reporting is enabled in Mattermost.

False: Compliance reporting is disabled.

This feature's config.json setting is "Enable": false with options true and false.

Compliance report directory

Sets the directory where compliance reports are written.

This feature's config.json setting is "Directory": "./data/" with string input.

Enable daily report

True: Mattermost generates a daily compliance report.

False: Daily reports are not generated.

This feature's config.json setting is "EnableDaily": false with options true and false.

Batch size

Set the size of the batches in which posts will be read from the database to generate the compliance report. This setting is currently not available in the System Console and can only be set in config.json.

This feature's config.json setting is "BatchSize": 30000 with default value 30000.

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Custom terms of service

Access the following configuration settings in the System Console by going to Compliance > Custom Terms of Service.

Enable custom terms of service

iNote

This configuration setting can only be modified using the System Console user interface.

True: New users must accept the Terms of Service before accessing any Mattermost teams on desktop, web, or mobile. Existing users must accept them after login or a page refresh. To update the Terms of Service link displayed in account creation and login pages, go to System Console > Legal and Support > Terms of Service Link.

False: During account creation or login, users can review Terms of Service by accessing the link configured via System Console > Legal and Support > Terms of Service link.

Custom terms of service text

Text that will appear in your custom Terms of Service. Supports Markdown-formatted text.

Re-acceptance period

The number of days before Terms of Service acceptance expires, and the terms must be re-accepted.

Defaults to 365 days. 0 indicates the terms do not expire.