How do you conduct a records inventory of email and chat across an organization?

Start with scope and authority

A records inventory of email and chat begins by defining what you are looking for and who has authority to ask. Email and messaging platforms hold both records (content that documents business activity) and non-records (spam, transitory chatter). The goal of an inventory is to identify what exists, where it lives, who controls it, and how long it must be kept — not to read every message.

Form a small team that includes records management, IT, legal/privacy, and information security. Confirm sponsorship from leadership, because inventory work touches many systems and people.

Map the systems, not just the mailboxes

Email and chat live in more places than people assume. Inventory the platforms first:

• Enterprise email (server-side stores, archives, and local files such as PST/OST).
• Chat and collaboration tools (instant messaging, channels, threads, direct messages).
• Mobile and text messaging used for business.
• Shared and departmental mailboxes, distribution lists, and service accounts.

For each platform, document the owner, storage location, volume, retention settings, access controls, and any existing capture or archiving in place.

Profile the records, then classify

Once systems are mapped, profile the content by function rather than by individual. Work with business units to identify the record series each group creates over email and chat — approvals, decisions, transactions, correspondence with the public — and link those series to your retention schedule. Note record series that may carry legal holds, privacy obligations, or other special handling.

Practical inventory fields include: business function, record series, responsible office, system of record, approximate volume, retention period, and disposition status.

Validate and maintain

Verify findings through interviews and sampling rather than relying on settings alone, since informal channels often hold records that policy did not anticipate. Document gaps — for example, chat with no retention applied — and feed them into policy and capture decisions. Treat the inventory as a living record: re-survey when platforms change or new tools are adopted.

A consistent, standards-based method keeps the work defensible. For more context on governing these channels, see the email and messaging topic hub.