Introducing a 30-day retention limit for Google Chat
To: All faculty, staff, alumni, retirees and other select TMU Google account holders
Beginning November 12, 2025, Google Chat Direct messages older than 30 days will be automatically deleted from chat histories on TMU Google accounts. If you wish to retain messages or files shared in Google Chat, you are strongly encouraged to download your data prior to the November 12 change.
Note: As the retention period is 30 days, once the November 12 change takes place, any messages sent on or before October 13, 2025 will be automatically deleted.
The change applies to Direct messages
While all Google Chat “Direct messages” will be subject to the new 30-day retention period, any messages you’ve sent or received via Google Chat “Spaces” will not be affected.
To find both types of Google Chat messages:
- Log in to your TMU Gmail account.
- From the navigation menu on the left-hand side, click the Chat option.
- Here, you can click to expand both your Direct messages and Spaces.
Why is the change happening?
The university is implementing a new 30-day retention period for Google Chat messages to reflect both legal practices and business requirements of organizations similar to TMU. This change helps TMU manage cybersecurity and privacy risks by reducing the retention of transitory records in employee Google accounts.
Google Chat Direct messages are intended to be used for quick, informal messages that are transitory in nature. With that in mind, we ask employees to be mindful by using email for communicating university official business, or University Records, which require retention in accordance with the university’s Records Retention Schedule.
Using Google Takeout to download your Chat content
If you’d like to keep Google Chat content, you can use Google Takeout to download your data and view it afterwards using the TMU-built Google Takeout Google Chat Reader. Find out how to export, save and read Google Chat messages.
Keeping a Chat intact
If you have a “Direct message” Chat and wish to avoid the automatic 30-day deletion, you can convert the Chat into a “space”. To do so:
- Open the Direct message thread.
- Next to the Chat title or the names of the Chat members, click the drop-down arrow and select turn this chat into a Space.
Note: This option is only available for Google Chats that include more than two people. One-on-one Direct message chats cannot be turned into a Space.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the Computing and Communications Services (CCS) Help Desk via the IT Help portal, help@torontomu.ca or 416-979-5000, ext. 556806.