Delivery and archive: what to keep for thirty days

What delivery means in the workflow

Delivery is a work stage, the last one before Done, in every video template. Its tasks are the ones that produce the files: 'Color grade and sound mix' and 'Export deliverables per spec' in Commercial, 'Export versions and captions' in Corporate video, 'Masters, subtitles and delivery package' in Documentary, 'Export and upload the delivery gallery' in Wedding film. The default SLA is 24 hours in Commercial and Corporate and 48 in Documentary and Wedding.

The stage is reachable only from a granted final cut approval, and the transition to Done requires its checklist to be complete. A project is not done because someone said so; it is done because the export task was closed.

Handing the files over

The client downloads from the portal through the same door they approved with, so the master arrives where the approval was given. For a recipient who is not the client, an agency partner or a broadcaster, a share link works without any door: a random token shown once, with an optional password, an optional expiry date and a switch for whether download is allowed. A link can point at one file or at a whole folder, its uses are counted, and it can be revoked.

A link never hands on a file that has not passed the malware scan. Every upload is scanned on arrival, and the share resolution checks the scan result before it serves the file.

• Portal download: the client's own door, no extra link.
• Share link: a file or a folder, password, expiry, download on or off, revocable, counted.
• The link is shown once; the product stores only its hash.

The thirty-day window, and what it is made of

Three different thirty-day windows meet at delivery, and it helps to know which is which. A file deleted from a project keeps its bytes for the organisation's retention window, 30 days by default, and can be recovered within it; after that the purge removes them. A portal door expires after 30 days by default unless the studio set another period. And when an organisation or an account is deleted, its data is removed permanently after 30 days, which is the window published in the terms and privacy policy and enforced by the same constant in the code.

The practical consequence for a studio is that nothing done on delivery day is irreversible for a month. A master deleted by mistake, a door that should have been kept open, a project closed a week early: each can be undone within the window and none can be undone after it.

What to keep, and what to let go

Keep the approved version of every deliverable, in the project, with the review session and the decision on it. Keep the notes from the last round, because they are the evidence of what was asked for and what was done. Keep the door open for the length of the retention window so the client can download again without a new invitation.

Let go of the intermediate versions once the approved one is delivered, if storage is a concern; they stay recoverable for 30 days after deletion in any case. Revoke share links issued to third parties once the recipient confirms receipt, because a link that is not revoked is a link that still works until its expiry. Storage is a plan limit - 100 GB on Starter, 1 TB on Professional, 5 TB on Business, with a terabyte available as an add-on - and archive discipline is how a studio stays inside it.

The record that outlives the files

The audit log is append-only. Nothing in the product can edit or delete a row in it, and it records who did what and when: the decision, the change to the agreed rounds, the door that was issued, the file that was deleted. When a client disputes what was agreed, the log is read, not remembered.

The organisation's data can be exported as a bundle and downloaded, which is how a studio keeps its own copy outside the product. On the Business plan the same records are reachable through the public API with scoped keys, and webhooks with a delivery log can push an approval or a stage change into whatever system the studio keeps its invoices in.

Closing the project without losing it

A project has one of five statuses: draft, active, on hold, delivered or archived. Only active projects count against the plan's limit (10 on Starter, 50 on Professional, 200 on Business), so marking a project delivered frees a slot without removing anything. The risk score reads only live projects, draft, active and on hold, because a delivered project has no future to predict; a delivered project therefore drops out of the risk list and the weekly report on its own. The project, its files, its notes and its decisions stay in the organisation, and search covers projects, tasks, comments and files.

The archive question, then, is not whether to keep the project but what to keep on disk. The answer this article gives is short: the approved master, the record, the notes, for at least thirty days, and the intermediate exports only for as long as someone might ask for them.

Questions that keep coming up

If I delete a file by mistake, can I get it back?

Yes, within the organisation's retention window, 30 days by default. After that the purge removes the bytes.

Can I give a download link to someone who is not the client?

Yes. A share link can point at a file or a folder, carry a password and an expiry, allow or block download, and be revoked. Its uses are counted.

Does the client need a new invitation to download after approval?

No. The door they approved with also downloads, for as long as it is valid. Doors expire after 30 days by default unless you set a longer period or none.

Can the audit log be edited?

No. It is append-only at the application layer. Rows are added and never changed or removed.

How do I keep my own copy of everything?

Export the organisation's data as a bundle and download it. On the Business plan the public API and webhooks give the same records to your own systems.