google cloud storage does not remove files according to the retention policy

[Tomasz Arendt]

Support could not clarify why rule of 24h retention does not work. Any suggestions?

[Mary (Google Platform Support)]

On Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 9:08:55 AM UTC-5, Tomasz Arendt wrote:

Support could not clarify why rule of 24h retention does not work. Any suggestions?

Hi Tomasz,

Cloud Storage retention policies[1] allow you to specify a time frame where objects can’t be manually deleted before that time has expired. 

The retention policy does not automatically delete the objects in the bucket. In order to do that you would need to add a lifecycle policy[2]. 

The retention policy takes precedence over the lifecycle policy meaning the retention period must complete before the lifecycle action can be executed. 

Check if you have a lifecycle policy in place that allows the objects to be deleted after 24 hrs. I suggest to test this on a test bucket and objects before implementing on a production bucket as once objects are deleted they cannot be recovered.

[1] https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/bucket-lock

[2] https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/lifecycle