Slack Retention Policy: Best Practices and Backup Solutions

Businesses are now using Slack day-inday-out for all kinds of company operations, workflows, collaboration, and communication. Managing what data is kept and for how long has become a mission-critical concern. Organizations need to establish a Slack retention policy so nothing critical is lost in the event of an outage, attack, or accidental deletion. 

Why Backup Slack?

Slack is definitely not immune to data breaches. While a more nascent technology compared to many, it has been the target of a number of high profile security breaches. Disney had a notable one in 2024 and there have been others. Most users assume that because corporate Slack accounts are invite-only, making them feel private, they must also be secure. However, getting into a corporate Slack account is not rocket science and can be done by even low-level hackers. And if an attacker gets in, they can introduce ransomware, encrypting all your data, exfiltrate corporate data, and unleash any number of other attack types.

Now that you know why it’s important to back-up your Slack instance, let’s look at some additional context: what Slack retention is, helpful ways to approach it, and options for preserving your Slack data effectively.

What is a Slack Retention Policy?

A Slack retention policy defines how long messages and files are stored within your Slack workspace before being deleted, which can be done through automation or manual management. 

These policies let companies manage data lifecycles, stay compliant with necessary regulations, and keep their digital environment clean and secure.

Slack allows administrators create retention policies in a variety of ways: 

• Workspace-wide: A default policy that applies across all conversations and channels.
• Per-channel or per-DM: Specific retention settings for individual channels or user conversations.
• Message and file retention: Separate policies for text messages and file uploads.
• Retention of edits and deletions: Message history for audit, compliance, and eDiscovery purposes.

Best Practices for Retaining Slack Data

Managing Slack data isn’t just about storage; it’s about balancing usability, compliance, and security. Some tips as you proceed:

1. Make sure you consider industry regulations as you build your policies. 

Tailor retention periods to meet industry regulations. Finance and legal sectors may require message storage for several years, while other industries may have more flexibility.

2. Use retention rules that are custom to how sensitive data is. 

Apply stricter retention to high-risk areas (e.g., HR, finance, legal) and shorter periods to casual or operational channels to reduce data clutter.

3. Remember to also save audit logs and edits. 

Enabling visibility into edited or deleted messages strengthens oversight and aids in compliance and eDiscovery efforts.

4. Use a 3rd party backup solution. 

Slack’s native tools don’t offer data recovery. A dedicated Slack backup service ensures your data is recoverable after deletion, accidental or malicious.

5. Create limitations on what users can edit or delate.

Prevent users from editing or deleting messages in compliance-critical environments to maintain integrity.

6. Educate your users on the company policies.

Make sure team members understand what happens to their messages and files over time. Transparency makes sure everyone in the organization knows 

7. Review Policies Regularly

Audit your retention policies at least quarterly or when organizational needs or regulations change.

Retention and Backup Solutions for Slack

Slack-Native Features

Slack allows organizations to manage how long messages, files, canvases, and lists are retained within their workspaces, offering a range of options depending on the Slack plan in use.

Retention Coverage Included With Slack Plan Types

• On the Free plan, messages and files are kept for up to one year. 
• For paid plans, including Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid, admins have much more flexibility. They can choose to keep all messages indefinitely, automatically delete messages after a set period (like 30 or 90 days), or retain them without tracking edits or deletions. 

Policies, Configurations, and Types of Data Retained

Workspace Owners typically set these policies, while Org Owners on Enterprise Grid can enforce them across all workspaces. In some cases, users may be allowed to override defaults for specific conversations, depending on admin settings.

For file retention, paid plans allow files to be stored permanently or deleted after a defined period. Admins can also decide whether deleted files are still retained or not. As with messages, Workspace Owners configure these policies, while Org Owners can impose restrictions or defaults organization-wide.

Slack also extends retention control to newer features like canvases and lists. These can also be stored indefinitely or cleared after a specific number of days. Admins can include or exclude deleted items from retention policies, helping manage clutter while maintaining compliance.

One critical note: once data is deleted according to these retention settings, it’s permanently gone. There’s no native way to recover deleted messages or files unless your organization uses an external backup service. Moreover, retention settings directly affect the content available in Slack data exports—unless specific retention of deletions is enabled, some data may not appear.

Third-Party Backup Options

For long-term retention, legal protection, and disaster recovery, third-party Slack backup solutions are essential. They go beyond what Slack provides by enabling full recovery, long-term storage, and advanced compliance tools. 

SpinOne for Slack

​​SpinOne for Slack is a comprehensive SaaS security solution designed to protect Slack workspaces from data loss, misconfigurations, and third-party risks. It offers a unified platform that combines automated backup and recovery with advanced security posture management, ensuring business continuity and compliance.

Automated Slack Backup and Recovery

SpinOne provides automated, incremental backups of Slack data up to three times daily, with a 99.9% SLA for backup and disaster recovery. This includes messages, files, and metadata across public, private, and direct message channels. The platform supports granular recovery options, allowing administrators to restore specific messages or entire channels as needed. Data can be stored in various secure cloud storage options, including AWS, GCP, Azure, or a bring-your-own-storage (BYOS) model, and retention policies can be customized to meet organizational requirements. 

Security Posture Management (SSPM) for Slack

Beyond backup, SpinOne offers robust security posture management features. It continuously monitors Slack environments for misconfigurations and unauthorized third-party applications, providing real-time risk assessments. The platform evaluates connected apps using a database of over 400,000 applications, assigning risk scores based on factors like permissions, compliance, and security vulnerabilities. Administrators receive immediate alerts for detected incidents, with recommendations for remediation, and can automate responses to mitigate risks promptly. 

Compliance and Visibility in your Slack workspace

SpinOne helps organizations meet compliance standards such as SOC 2 Type II and GDPR by offering detailed reporting and audit trails. Its centralized dashboard provides full visibility into Slack workspaces, enabling efficient management of security policies and user activities. The platform’s integration capabilities with tools like Splunk, ServiceNow, and Jira further enhance its utility in complex IT environments. 

SpinOne for Slack delivers a holistic approach to Slack data protection, combining reliable backup solutions with proactive security measures to safeguard against data breaches and ensure regulatory compliance.

Feature	Slack Native Retention	Third-Party Backup (e.g., Spinbackup)
Backup & Recovery	❌ No recovery after deletion	✅ Full message and file restoration
Custom Retention Periods	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Granular Channel Policies	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Audit Trail / Legal Hold	⚠️ Limited (Enterprise only)	✅ Advanced capabilities
Long-Term Archiving	❌ Not supported	✅ Unlimited retention
Compliance Features	⚠️ Basic tools	✅ Designed for GDPR, HIPAA, FINRA, etc.
Security & Ransomware Protection	❌ Limited	✅ High-level data security

A well-implemented Slack retention policy protects your business from compliance risks, legal pitfalls, and data loss—but retention isn’t backup. For complete control, businesses need to combine Slack’s native retention with a secure, third-party backup solution like Spinbackup.

That combination gives you the flexibility to keep what matters, delete what doesn’t, and recover data when it’s needed most.

Learn more about how SpinOne can help you protect your Slack data.