PulseAutomatic transcript deletion
Setting a retention period, what deletion covers, and what remains afterwards.
Pulse can automatically delete transcripts after a set period. What is deleted is the transcript only; the note remains. There are two ways to do it — an individual setting, and workspace-wide application on the Enterprise plan — and they behave differently. This article covers the steps, which features stop working once a transcript is deleted, and what remains afterwards.
Enterprise plan
Automatic deletion defaults to off (no automatic deletion). Unless you set it, transcripts remain until you delete them. The retention period can be one day, one week, one month, three months, six months, one year, or off.
Setting it for yourself
On plans other than Enterprise, you can set a retention period for your own transcripts. It defaults to off, so nothing is deleted automatically until you set it.
Open settings
Open the Pulse desktop app and open Settings.
Choose Preferences
Choose Preferences from the menu on the left.
Find the automatic deletion period
Find “Transcript auto-deletion period” under Data and sharing.
Choose a retention period
Choose one day, one week, one month, three months, six months or one year. To leave automatic deletion off, choose Off.
Read the confirmation and confirm
The first time you enable it, a confirmation screen appears. The setting does not take effect immediately: there is a one-week grace period. If you change your mind during it, you can put the setting back.
Once the grace period passes, transcripts older than the retention period you chose are deleted automatically, oldest first.
- the retention period you set is longer than the period for which the business refers to those records
- for meetings whose transcripts you want to keep, you have exported them during the grace period
- you have confirmed that the note's content alone will be enough once the transcript has gone
An individual setting applies only to your own transcripts within that workspace. It does not affect other members' transcripts.
Applying it workspace-wide on the Enterprise plan
Enterprise administrators can set a retention period applying to every member of the workspace. The periods are the same as for the individual setting: one day, one week, one month, three months, six months, one year, or off. This currently requires configuration on UNCHAIN, Inc.'s side, so contact your account representative or tharada@the-unchain.com.
With the workspace-wide setting enabled, it behaves as follows.
- the retention period applies across the workspace, and individual members cannot override it
- where a member had set their own retention period, the workspace setting overrides it
- there is no grace period. On application, every transcript older than the retention period is deleted immediately
The current setting can be seen under Data security in the workspace settings.
Because workspace-wide application has no grace period, check before applying it whether any transcript older than the retention period needs keeping. Deleted transcripts cannot be restored.
What to know before enabling it
Transcript deletion cannot be undone. There is no way to restore a transcript once deleted.
| Effect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Notes remain | only the transcript is deleted. The AI-enhanced note and the notes you wrote yourself remain as they are |
| Notes can no longer be regenerated | Pulse uses the transcript to generate and regenerate a note. Once the transcript is deleted, that meeting's note cannot be rebuilt. Check you are happy with the note's content before it is deleted |
| Chat answers become limited | chat consults the transcript to answer questions about a meeting. For a meeting without one, it can only answer within what the note says |
| The grace period applies only to individual settings | there is a one-week grace period only where you set it yourself. The Enterprise workspace setting has none |
| The workspace setting takes precedence | where an administrator has set a retention period, it takes precedence over the individual setting |
| Deletion proceeds automatically | after the grace period, transcripts past the retention period are deleted in turn. There is no confirmation each time |
What you see after deletion
Opening a meeting whose transcript has been deleted:
- the note is shown and can still be edited
- the transcript panel shows a message saying the transcript has been deleted
- that meeting's note cannot be regenerated or updated with AI
- chat answers about that meeting are limited to what the note says
What remains after deletion
After a transcript disappears from the screen, the following remain for a period. These are the parts you may need to explain in a processor assessment or an audit.
| What remains | Purpose | Until it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Backups | recovery from failure | overwritten in turn as generations roll over, and erased as the retention period passes |
| Audit logs | investigating misuse, reviewing access history | erased once the retention period passes. Logs contain no transcript or note bodies — only a record of who did what and when |
| The note itself | the record of the meeting | not covered by automatic deletion. To delete it, use Deleting notes |
Write the actual retention periods for backups and audit logs to match UNCHAIN, Inc.'s configuration. Giving figures — “30 days”, “90 days” — means the answer can be used directly in a processor assessment. Even where you cannot fix a figure, do not omit the fact that data remains in recovery backups for a period. Wording that reads as though data is completely gone after deletion risks contradicting reality.
Relationship to the Act on the Protection of Personal Information
This provides that where there is no longer a need to use personal data, a business must endeavour to erase it without delay. It is a duty of effort, but keeping records indefinitely with no retention period drifts away from its intent. Automatic deletion is the feature that addresses that duty in practice.
An individual may also request cessation of use or erasure where there is no longer a need to use the personal data, where a leak has occurred, or where their rights or legitimate interests may otherwise be harmed. Automatic deletion after a meeting, and erasure on account closure, function as practical preparation for such requests.
When deciding a retention period, start from how long the business needs the record. The period until minutes are finalised, the period during which an audit or acceptance check might refer to them, and record retention periods set in contracts with clients are all relevant.
Where this sits among security control measures
Setting a retention period corresponds to the following categories of security control measure required by the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. For the whole picture and UNCHAIN, Inc.'s own measures, see Our security standards.
| Category | What it corresponds to |
|---|---|
| Organisational security measures | setting the retention period as policy, and confirming data is deleted once the period passes |
| Technical security measures | the mechanism that automatically deletes transcripts past the retention period |
| Personnel security measures | making the retention and deletion practice known to employees |
| Physical security measures | erasing data by a method that prevents recovery when equipment and electronic media are disposed of |
| Understanding the external environment | where processing is delegated outside Japan, understanding that country's regime and agreeing limits on retention |
Frequently asked questions
Q. Can a deleted transcript be restored?
A. No. A deleted transcript cannot be recovered.
Q. Is the note deleted too?
A. Only the transcript is deleted. The note remains. To delete the note as well, use Deleting notes.
Q. Can I stop automatic deletion after enabling it?
A. For an individual setting, set the retention period back to Off at any time. For the Enterprise workspace setting, contact your administrator or tharada@the-unchain.com. Transcripts already deleted are not restored by reverting the setting.
Q. Can I opt out of an Enterprise retention period individually?
A. No. A retention period applied across the workspace covers every member and cannot be overridden individually. If you have particular circumstances, speak to your workspace administrator.
Q. Is there guidance on choosing a retention period?
A. There is no uniform legal standard. Start from how long the business refers to those records, and factor in whether you handle meetings where sensitive personal information is likely to arise. In departments handling sensitive matters — healthcare, HR, legal — we suggest a shorter period, combined with keeping the key points in the note for meetings that need it.
Q. A meeting participant has asked for deletion
A. Delete the transcript block concerned, or the whole note. For data held under business plans, the authority to decide on deletion rests with the customer (the contracting company). A request from the individual should as a rule be made to the organisation that created the record.
If something is not working
- There is no automatic deletion item in settings: on the Enterprise plan an administrator may have set a workspace-wide retention period, which individual users cannot change. Check with your administrator.
- I set it but transcripts are still there: an individual setting has a one-week grace period. Deletion does not begin until it ends.
- Transcripts disappeared that should not have: an administrator may have applied a workspace-wide retention period. Check the workspace settings with your administrator.