Object Lock legal hold overview

Legal Hold, a feature of Object Lock, prevents an object version from being overwritten or deleted. Unlike a retention period, a legal hold doesn't have a specific duration and remains active until you remove it.
Legal holds operate independently of retention periods. As long as Object Lock is enabled for the bucket containing the object, you can apply or remove legal holds, regardless of whether the specified object version has a set retention period.
Applying a legal hold on an object version doesn't impact its retention mode or retention period.

Viewing the legal hold status for an object

You can check the legal hold status for individual files by following the instructions provided below.
1. Select the file for which you would like to check the legal hold status and click:
Files, Properties:
Select the file and click Files, Properties..
The Properties tab will open:
The Properties tab shows legal hold status
The Legal Hold row displays the legal hold status, you can also toggle the legal hold by clicking the corresponding link (ON or OFF).

How to apply legal hold for one or multiple files

With S3 Browser you can easily update legal hold status for one or multiple files.
To update legal hold status for one or multiple files:
1. Select one or more files and/or folders and click:
Files, Object Lock, Legal Hold, [ON or OFF]:
Files, Object Lock, Legal Hold, [ON or OFF]
The legal hold status will be updated based on your selection.

How to apply legal hold for all files in a bucket

Using S3 Browser, you can also modify the legal hold status for all files in a bucket.
This feature can be particularly useful if you need to change the legal hold status for every file in a bucket. Thanks to its multi-threading support, S3 Browser offers a quick and convenient way to process multiple files concurrently. This capability can significantly expedite the process, especially when dealing with large buckets.
To change the legal hold status for all files in a bucket:
1. Select the bucket you want to work with and click:
Buckets, Object Lock, Update legal hold for all objects, [ON or OFF]:
Buckets, Object Lock, Update legal hold for all objects, [ON or OFF]
S3 Browser will enumerate all files in a bucket and apply legal hold status for each file. You can monitor the progress on the Tasks tab.

How to apply legal hold automatically during upload

You can configure S3 Browser to automatically apply legal hold for files during uploading. This can be configured via the Object Lock Retention Rules feature.
Please check the instructions below for more details.
To automatically apply legal hold during upload:
1. Start S3 Browser and click Tools, Object Lock Retention Rules..
Click Tools, Object Lock Retention Rules..
The Object Lock Retention Rules dialog will open:
The Object Lock Retention Rules dialog
2. Click Add, the Add New Object Lock Retention Rule dialog will open:
The Add New Object Lock Retention Rule dialog
3. Enter the bucket name (or mask) and file name (or mask)
4. Check the Place a legal hold on an object version checkbox
3. Click Add