Delete responses automatically (data retention)

You can set a Business form to delete submissions automatically after a retention period you choose.

You set retention for one form at a time. Makeform doesn't support an account-wide or workspace-wide retention setting, so you'll need to set it on each form.

1. Open the form and click Settings.
2. Find Data retention at the bottom of the page, then choose a period from Delete submissions automatically. You can choose 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, 1 year, or Custom. The setting starts as Off (keep forever).
3. If you choose Custom, enter a whole number from 7 to 3650 in Days (7–3650).
4. Click Save retention. If you're turning retention on or choosing a shorter period, review the older submissions that will be deleted, then click Delete after {days} days to confirm. Choose Cancel to leave the setting unchanged.

After a submission passes the period you chose, Makeform hides it at the next hourly run; seven days later, it and its uploaded files are permanently deleted. Saved partial answers past the period are deleted too. A large first cleanup may take a few runs.

Submissions with a payment are always kept. The form itself stays.

For seven days after a submission is hidden, you can recover submissions that your new setting keeps by turning retention off or choosing a longer period. After seven days, you can't recover deleted submissions or their files. There's no per-submission restore option.