# 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.