Send Lifespan

Unlike regular vault items and file attachments, Sends are ephemeral and have a default lifespan of 7 days and can be set to last for up to 31 days using the Deletion Date option. When a Send reaches its deletion date, it's purged from Bitwarden systems and inaccessible to both Sender and recipients.

Optionally, you can set additional limitations on access using the Expiration Date and/or Maximum Access Count options. You can also manually disable or delete a Send at any time.

Deletion Date

By default, Sends will automatically be deleted 7 days after they're created. Using the Deletion Date option, you can change this to a range of pre-specified options (e.g. 1 hour, 1 day, 31 days) or specify a Custom timestamp using the date picker (or in the text input in the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM AM/PM).

Deletion date has a maximum allowed value of 31 days from creation.

Deletion Behavior

When a Send reaches its deletion date:

• For recipients (i.e. anyone with the generated link), navigating to the Send link will show a screen reporting that the Send does not exist or is no longer available.

• For the Sender, a  Pending Deletion icon will appear next to the Send. The Send will pend deletion for a few minutes, after which it will be permanently deleted from Bitwarden systems and from the Sender's view.

  note

  There is no "soft delete" or Trash Can for Sends, meaning that once the pending deletion window has closed you will not be able to access the contents of a Send.

Expiration Date

By default, sends will never expire (but they will be deleted). Using the Expiration Date option, you can select from a range of pre-specified options (e.g. 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days) or specify a Custom timestamp using the date picker (or in the text input in the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM AM/PM).

Expiration Behavior

When a Send reaches its expiration date:

• For recipients (i.e. anyone with the generated link), navigating to the Send link will show a screen reporting that the Send does not exist or is no longer available.

• For the Sender, an  Expired icon will appear next to the Send. The Send will remain accessible to the Sender until the specified Deletion Date is reached.

Maximum Access Count

For all Sends, a Current Access Count ticker will track the number of times the Send link has been accessed:

You can specify a Maximum Access Count that is any positive integer.

Maximum Access Count Behavior

When a Send reaches its specified maximum access count:

• For recipients (i.e. anyone with the generated link), navigating to the Send link will show a screen reporting that the Send does not exist or is no longer available.

• For the Sender, a  Max access count reached icon will appear next to the Send. The Send will remain accessible to its Sender until the specified Deletion Date is reached.

Manually Disable or Delete

To manually disable or delete a Send from any Bitwarden app: