Place and manage legal holds

Legal holds preserve all the docs a user owns or has edited until you release the hold, so your org can identify, preserve, and produce relevant information when needed. Together with the ability to identify docs via eDiscovery, legal holds are a key part of that system.

This article helps Enterprise org admins place, export, release, and delete legal holds.

Initiate a legal hold

Enterprise org admins can start a legal hold by following these steps:

1. Go to docs.superhuman.com/docs.

2. Click your name in the lower-left corner.

3. Select Admin settings.

4. Scroll to, or search for, the Legal holds tab (under Data governance).

5. Click Create new hold.

6. Fill in the available fields:

   • Name: A name for the hold.

   • Description: A description of the hold.

   • Users: Search for and select one or more users by email.

   • Time period: Any docs the user(s) created or edited during this time period are held. You’re required to choose a start date, but end date is optional and will default to “ongoing.”

7. Finally, click Create to complete the process.

View and export preserved docs

As part of a legal hold, org admins can preserve the docs owned by and edited by the user during the time period you set. The docs remain in our system, even if the user deletes them, until the hold is released. Org admins have full access to view and export the contents of all preserved docs.

View preserved docs

1. Under the Legal holds tab of your admin settings, click the hold name. A list of all preserved docs for this hold opens.

2. To view a specific doc, click its name in the list.

Export preserved docs

1. Under the Legal holds tab of your admin settings, click the hold name.

2. Select the docs to export: use the checkboxes to select specific docs, then click Export X docs, or click Export all docs on hold to export all preserved docs.

3. Choose which version of the doc(s) to export: the version available as of today, or the version from a specific date in the past.

4. Click Create to generate the export. This may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the export.

5. When the export is ready, go to the Exports for this hold tab and click Download.

The export downloads as a zip file in your browser. The zip file contains all the docs in .pdf format, along with a .csv manifest that lists the docs included in the download and other useful metadata.

Track and manage legal holds

You can view, edit, and delete your legal holds from the legal holds dashboard, within the Legal holds tab of your admin settings. To open the action menu, click the three-dot menu to the right of each hold.

Filter legal holds by status

To show only the holds you need, use the status filter above the table and choose All, Active, or Released. Released holds show the date they were released in the Release date column. You can also use the search bar to search by hold name.

Release a legal hold

Releasing closes the hold and keeps a full audit trail, including who released it, when, and why. Use it to formally close a resolved legal matter. You can release only holds with an Active status.

1. Under the Legal holds tab of your admin settings, click the three-dot menu to the right of an active hold.

2. Select Release hold. A confirmation window opens.

3. Choose a Release reason from the dropdown: Matter resolved, Scope changed, Regulatory inquiry closed, Retention obligation expired, or Other.

4. (Optional) Enter Notes about the release.

5. Select the confirmation checkbox: “I understand that releasing this hold removes preservation protection from X docs.” X is the number of docs on the hold.

6. Click the Release hold button to confirm.

7. You’re redirected to the legal holds table, and the hold’s status changes from Active to Released.

Delete a legal hold

Deleting removes the hold record entirely, with no history retained. Use it to remove test or erroneous holds.

1. Under the Legal holds tab of your admin settings, click the three-dot menu to the right of an active hold.

2. Select Delete hold.

3. Then click Delete to confirm.

Export a list of legal holds

Export a list of all your holds to report on how many are open and released throughout the year.

1. Under the Legal holds tab of your admin settings, click Export holds in the toolbar above the holds list.

2. In the Export Legal Holds window, review the message, then click Generate export. To cancel, click Cancel.

3. Wait for the email with your download link. This usually takes a few minutes, but can take longer if you have a large number of holds.

4. Open the email and download the CSV. The link is valid for 1 day.

The CSV has one row per hold, and includes both active and released holds. It contains these columns: Hold name, Created by, Custodians (users on hold), Docs on hold, Hold start date, Hold end date, Date created, Date released, Release reason, Release notes, and Status. For active holds, Date released, Release reason, and Release notes are blank. For released holds, all fields are filled in.

FAQs

Related resources

• Identify docs via eDiscovery

• Overview: Enterprise security features

• Enterprise org admins

• Deactivate users and transfer their docs