Choose the right duration
The maximum uses calendar months rather than a fixed number of days. Month-end dates are clamped to the last day of the target month using UTC.
| Choice | Expiry | Does use extend it? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | One hour after creation. | No. |
| 24 hours | 24 hours after creation. | No. |
| 1 week (default) | Seven days after the most recent qualifying use, capped at six calendar months from creation. | Yes, while active and within the maximum. |
What counts as use for a weekly inbox?
Examples include opening or switching to an active inbox in the foreground, connecting with its password, manually refreshing, reading a message, copying its address or downloading an authorized attachment. Frequent actions are combined rather than extending the deadline on every click.
New incoming email, background polling, automatic reconnects and administrator viewing do not renew the inbox. Leaving a browser tab open does not guarantee indefinite retention.
Deleting a message and destroying an inbox are different
Deleting a message only removes that message. The user can no longer open its details or attachments.
Destroying an inbox ends user access. Maintenance cleans up raw message and attachment files and address registration; failures are retried. Expiry follows the same access and cleanup boundaries.
What administrators retain
When an inbox expires or is destroyed, message bodies, recognized verification codes and attachment records are automatically deleted from the database.
Administrator permanent deletion removes selected message records and schedules associated file cleanup. User expiry and destruction do not restore access later, and old credentials cannot reactivate the inbox.