Deleting Data from SecureAI

SecureAI stores conversations, uploaded documents, assistants, and user account data. Administrators have full control over deleting any of this data, while regular users can delete their own conversations and assistants. This article covers every deletion path available, what happens behind the scenes when data is removed, and how deletion supports your compliance obligations.

What Can Be Deleted

All deletions are permanent and irreversible. There is no trash or recycle bin. Confirm before deleting.

Deleting Conversations

As a User

1. Open the conversation list in the left sidebar.
2. Select one or more conversations using the checkboxes.
3. Click Delete.
4. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

This removes the conversation, all messages within it, and any in-conversation file attachments. The deletion takes effect immediately.

As an Administrator

1. Navigate to Admin Panel > Conversations.
2. Use filters to narrow by user, date range, or keyword.
3. Select conversations individually or use Select All for bulk deletion.
4. Click Delete and confirm.

Administrator deletions are logged in the audit trail, including which conversations were deleted and when.

What Happens When a Conversation Is Deleted

• All messages (user prompts and AI responses) are permanently removed from the database.
• Any files uploaded directly into the conversation (not via a knowledge base) are deleted from storage.
• The conversation no longer appears in search results or history.
• AI model providers do not retain conversation data, so there is nothing to delete on their side.

Deleting Uploaded Documents

Documents live in knowledge bases. Only administrators can delete documents from knowledge bases.

1. Navigate to Admin Panel > Knowledge Bases.
2. Select the knowledge base containing the document.
3. Click the document you want to remove.
4. Click Delete and confirm.

What Happens When a Document Is Deleted

• The original file is permanently removed from Cloud Storage.
• The document's vector embeddings are deleted from the search index.
• Future AI responses will no longer reference the document's content.
• Any conversations that previously cited the document are not affected -- those messages remain as-is, but the source document is no longer retrievable.

To delete an entire knowledge base and all its documents at once, select the knowledge base and click Delete Knowledge Base.

Deleting Assistants

As a User

You can delete assistants you created:

1. Click the Workspace icon in the left sidebar.
2. Select the Assistants tab.
3. Find the assistant you want to delete.
4. Click the assistant's menu (three dots) and select Delete.
5. Confirm the deletion.

As an Administrator

Administrators can delete any assistant in the organization:

1. Navigate to Admin Panel > Assistants (or Workspace > Assistants with admin privileges).
2. Select the assistant to delete.
3. Click Delete and confirm.

What Happens When an Assistant Is Deleted

• The assistant's configuration (system prompt, model parameters, name, description) is permanently removed.
• Knowledge bases linked to the assistant are not deleted -- they remain available for other assistants or direct use.
• Existing conversations that used the assistant are preserved, but new conversations cannot be started with that assistant.
• If the assistant was shared with other users, it disappears from their assistant list immediately.

Deleting User Accounts

When a user leaves your organization or requests account deletion:

1. Navigate to Admin Panel > Users.
2. Select the user.
3. Click Deactivate to immediately revoke access. The user can no longer log in, but their data remains for audit purposes.
4. To permanently remove all user data, click Delete All User Data.

Deleting all user data removes:

• The user's account and profile information
• All conversations created by the user
• All documents uploaded by the user
• All assistants created by the user
• Usage metadata associated with the user

This action satisfies GDPR right-to-erasure (Article 17) requests.

Automatic Deletion via Retention Policies

Instead of deleting data manually, configure retention policies to automatically remove data on a schedule:

1. Navigate to Admin Panel > Settings > Data Retention.
2. Set retention periods for each data type:
   • Conversation history: 30, 90, 180, or 365 days
   • Audit logs: typically longer than conversation retention (defined in your service agreement)
3. Data older than the retention period is permanently deleted on a rolling basis.

Retention policies run automatically and require no manual intervention once configured. For detailed setup instructions, see Configuring Data Retention Policies.

Organization-Level Data Deletion

When a service agreement ends, all data associated with your organization is permanently deleted within the timeframe specified in your agreement (typically 30 days after termination). This includes:

• All conversations across all users
• All uploaded documents and knowledge bases
• All assistants and their configurations
• All user accounts and profile data
• All audit logs and usage metadata

Contact your account representative to initiate this process or to request early deletion.

Data Deletion and Compliance

GDPR

SecureAI supports GDPR compliance for data deletion:

• Right to erasure (Article 17): Use the Delete All User Data function in Admin Panel > Users to fulfill erasure requests. This removes all personal data associated with the user.
• Data portability (Article 20): Before deleting, users can export their conversations. See Can I search and export past chats? for export options.
• Record of deletion: All deletion actions are logged in the audit trail for compliance documentation.

SOC 2

Deletion actions are captured in audit logs, providing the evidence trail required for SOC 2 Type II controls around data lifecycle management.

AI Model Providers

AI model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI) do not retain your prompts or responses beyond the API request lifecycle. When you delete data from SecureAI, there is nothing to delete at the model provider -- this is contractually enforced.

If your organization uses local models (Ollama or vLLM), prompts never leave your infrastructure.

Quick Reference

Related Articles

• How SecureAI Handles Your Data -- full data flow, encryption, and retention details
• How do we delete our data? -- quick FAQ on data deletion
• Configuring Data Retention Policies -- retention period setup
• How to Audit User Activity -- step-by-step audit log guide
• Compliance Certifications -- SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA -- compliance framework details