Webform data rights & retention
Visitor rights when collecting data through a form, extracting someone’s information on request, and data retention policies.
On this page:
Visitor rights
Regulations such as GDPR require proper authorization before sending business communications to someone, which affects how a form should be built and what it says. When using Insightly’s Web to Lead or Web to Contact form, you can include an opt-in field for your web visitors. Create a custom opt-in field in Insightly first, then include it when building your webform. See How to create a Web to Contact or Web to Lead webform and How to create a custom field.
Extracting someone’s information
A contact may have the right to request the data you hold about them. This is the access counterpart to the deletion and anonymization procedures. The steps below work entirely from the web interface and need no developer involvement. For bulk requests spanning many records, Insightly’s API can accelerate the same extraction, but it is not required to fulfill an individual request.
- Enter their name in the global search field and select the matching contact or lead record. Everything in Insightly connected to them should be linked to this record.
Searching for a Contact in Insightly CRM
2. Print the record page (browser print menu, or Ctrl/Cmd+P) for a hardcopy or PDF. 3. Review the record’s tabs. If integrations like MailChimp, QuickBooks Online, or Xero are connected, follow those links and use each app’s own export process to cover data held there too.
Contact Record with Integrated App Tabs
tab, which lists every task, event, and saved email linked to the record, and print it.
Contact Activity Tab with Upcoming Tasks
tab, which lists related records, notes, and files linked to the contact, and print it too.
Contact Related Tab with Linked Records
7. Open and print each note.
Note Preview Popup in Insightly CRM
8. Open each file. Download it if you’re sending the response electronically, or print its contents for a hardcopy.
Files Panel Showing Three Attached Documents
9. Open any linked contacts, organizations, opportunities, or projects and check each for additional information relevant to the request, printing anything relevant using the same steps.
Filtered lists or reports can also help locate a contact’s records, but each one still needs to be opened and printed individually so nothing is missed.
Data retention policies
Your own retention policies may require deleting, extracting, or modifying data after a set period.
- Build a custom list for the relevant object (contacts, opportunities, etc.), filtered by a date field. Since most policies use a rolling window, enter relative values like “2 years ago” or “last year” rather than fixed dates. Hover the info icon for supported formats.
Insightly CRM Relative Date Filter Options
2. Once the list displays, select every record. The checkbox at the top selects the current page, but for lists over 50 records, use the “Select all ### records in this list” link to catch everything, not just what’s visible.
Selecting All Records Across Multiple Pages
3. Use the bulk edit options to delete, export, or otherwise modify the selected records according to policy.
⚠️ Bulk delete does not immediately erase records. Deleted records move to the Recycle Bin and remain recoverable, and therefore still present, for up to 30 days. If a retention policy requires records to be irrecoverable by a specific date, also remove them from the Recycle Bin (see The Recycle Bin above) rather than relying on the 30-day automatic purge alone.