Cancel in reverse order of what the records depend on: tools nobody needs first, then project and support tools after their exports are checked, and email and file storage last, because exports, password resets and vendor notices all arrive by email. Vendors give very different grace periods: a deleted Slack workspace or GitHub organization is gone at once, Google says Workspace data is deleted and can’t be restored after you cancel, while Microsoft 365 deletes data no later than 180 days after cancellation and QuickBooks Online keeps read-only access for a year.
A safe order
- Inventory every account, its admin login and its renewal date.
- Export and check each tool while it is fully paid: projects and tickets, CRM, chat, code, accounting.
- Cancel the tools you have exported, one at a time, after checking the export opens.
- Keep email and file storage until the end: you need them to receive exports, invoices and final notices.
- Export email and drives last, then cancel them.
- Keep the accounting system’s read-only access where the vendor offers it.
How long vendors keep your data
| System | After cancelling or ending | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | Data deleted and can’t be restored; deletion can take up to 90 days | Google Workspace Admin Help |
| Microsoft 365 (cancelled) | Admins only; might be deleted after 90 days, deleted no later than 180 | Microsoft Learn |
| Slack (workspace deleted) | Permanent; messages and files can’t be retrieved | Slack Help Center |
| Jira and Confluence | Deactivated 15 days after the period ends; deleted 60 days later on paid plans | Atlassian |
| QuickBooks Online | Read-only for one year after cancellation | Intuit |
| GitHub (organization deleted) | Content cannot be restored | GitHub Docs |
The data retention clock has these and more, with dates calculated from your cancellation day.
What to export, per tool
- Email: every mailbox, including people who have left. Google’s Data Export tool needs an active subscription and can take up to 14 days.
- Chat: the fullest export your plan allows, plus the files it links to.
- Projects, tickets, CRM: records with their history and attachments, not just a list.
- Code: clone every repository with branches and tags.
- Accounting: the full general ledger and reports.
Once those exports exist, you also have a choice about them. Some AI developers license de-identified copies of company records, including from closed companies, but only while the data exists.
Questions people ask
Should we downgrade to free plans to save money while we export?
Not for Slack: on the free plan, messages and files more than one year old are permanently deleted on a rolling basis. Check each vendor's free-plan limits before downgrading anything.
What if we already cancelled?
Check the vendor's restore window at once. Microsoft 365 keeps data for admins during its disabled stage; Atlassian lets a billing admin reactivate a deactivated site; Zendesk can temporarily reactivate a cancelled account for export.
Sources
Related guides
What to do with company email, Slack and files when you close
How Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Slack delete data after you cancel, how to export first, what to keep, and what the archive may be worth.
How long to keep business records after you close
Federal retention periods for tax, payroll, I-9, personnel and injury records, in one table, and where those records usually live when you shut down.
Offboarding employee accounts after a layoff without losing data
Suspend, archive, transfer or delete: what happens to a departing employee's Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account, and the restore windows to know.
Part of Shutting down a company.