GoBD-compliantemail archiving.Legally sound with Archive.
Archive by Conbool archives every business email immutably, completely, and traceably. Retention periods under German HGB and AO are met automatically.
GoBD-Compliant Email Archiving under HGB and AO
Archive by Conbool supports audit-proof archiving of business emails. Messages are captured immutably, retained completely, and remain machine-readable throughout the statutory retention periods.
Why legally sound email archiving is mandatory
What the GoBD require of an archive
The German principles for the proper management and retention of books, records, and documents in electronic form set clear requirements for every email archive.
The GoBD are the tax-law variant. The wider term and its six criteria are covered under audit-proof email archiving.
Immutability
Once archived, emails may not be altered or deleted after the fact. Every message is stored with software-enforced immutability and secured by an externally anchored hash chain, so tampering stays detectable and provable at any time.
Completeness
Every business-relevant email must be captured without gaps. Capture happens directly in the mail flow, before a message even reaches a mailbox.
Traceability
The entire archive stays searchable and machine-readable at all times. An activatable access log documents every read access.
What sets Archive apart
Legally sound archiving without additional software in the mailbox. Archive works directly in the mail flow and covers the entire statutory retention period.
Capture in the mail flow
Inbound and outbound emails are archived directly at the gateway. No connector to the mail server or mailbox is required.
Plaintext archiving of encrypted mail
Messages encrypted with S/MIME or PGP are archived in decrypted form and remain permanently searchable in plaintext.
Full-text search across the archive
The entire archive is searchable by sender, subject, content, and attachment. Results are available within seconds.
Automated deletion policy
Once the retention period ends, messages are removed automatically and with a log, following the requirements of the GDPR.
Guided PST migration
Existing archives and PST files are imported without a detour through Outlook. The historical record is preserved in full.
EU data sovereignty
All data is stored in data centers within the EU. Access under the US CLOUD Act is ruled out.
With and without legally sound archiving
Leaving business emails solely in the mailbox risks gaps during a tax audit. Archive closes those gaps.
Without proper archiving
- Emails sit in the mailbox and can be altered
- Deleted messages are lost for good
- Encrypted mail remains impossible to find
- Retention periods are tracked manually
- Process documentation is missing at audit time
With Archive
- Immutable storage, software-enforced and secured by a hash chain
- Gapless capture directly in the mail flow
- Plaintext index of S/MIME and PGP
- Automated deletion policy after the period ends
- Process documentation is included
A legally sound archive in three steps
Connect
Archive is placed as a gateway in the mail flow. Existing mailboxes and mail servers remain unchanged.
Archive
Every inbound and outbound email is captured immutably and given an audit log entry.
Prove
During an audit, the archive, process documentation, and analyses are available in machine-readable form at any time.
How long must an email be retained?
Not every business email falls under the same period. What matters is what the message is in substance, not that it happens to be an email.
| Period | What it covers | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| 10 years | Books, inventories, annual financial statements, opening balance sheets, management reports | Section 257 (1) no. 1, (4) HGB · Section 147 (1) no. 1, (3) AO |
| 8 years | Accounting vouchers including incoming and outgoing invoices | Section 257 (4) HGB · Section 147 (3) AO |
| 6 years | Commercial and business letters received and sent, other tax-relevant records | Section 257 (1) no. 2, 3, (4) HGB · Section 147 (1) no. 2, 3, (3) AO |
An email with an invoice attached is an accounting voucher and stays for eight years. A quotation or order confirmation without voucher character is a business letter and stays for six. The period does not start on the day the message was sent, but at the end of the calendar year in which it arose.
Since 1 January 2025, accounting vouchers are kept for eight years instead of ten. The Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act shortened the period for every voucher whose ten-year term was still running at that point. For companies under BaFin supervision, the shorter period applies from 1 January 2026.
Retention periods in detail: 6, 8 or 10 yearsWhat drives the cost of archiving
Four factors determine what compliant archiving actually costs in day-to-day operation.
Number of mailboxes
Billing is per mailbox, not per gigabyte. If you keep departed employees' mailboxes running as archives, you keep paying for them — clarify upfront how decommissioned mailboxes are treated.
Retention period
Ten years of retention means ten times the volume of one year. An archive that separates periods by document type holds considerably less than one that blanket-keeps everything for ten years.
Storage location and jurisdiction
German data centres and WORM-capable storage cost more than arbitrary object storage. That is not a premium for comfort but the precondition for being able to evidence immutability during an audit.
Setup and audit effort
The journal rule, the procedural documentation and the proof of completeness are one-off items that are easily overlooked. Include them when you compare offers.
FAQ
What do the GoBD require of email archiving?
Is there an official GoBD certification?
Which retention periods apply to emails?
What is process documentation?
How are encrypted emails archived?
What happens after the retention period ends?
Archive with legal certainty using Archive.
Archive by Conbool supports GoBD-compliant archiving of business emails. Immutable, complete, and with EU data sovereignty.