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Retention schedules

A retention schedule is a resource that provides the information about how to manage records throughout their lifecycle, including compliance with legal retention requirements. All King County retention schedules are displayed in the table below.

All schedules on this page are based on, and compliant with, Washington State records retention schedules. Information on this page is current and is automatically updated once per day. King County employees should only use retention schedules on this page to manage their records and should avoid using any older versions or exports of retention schedules, as they might be out of date. 

King County Records Retention Schedules

Start by using the yellow bars below to select your agency (usually Department-Division-and-Section), which will then filter to display your agency's record categories. Then, use the dashboard features to search, sort, or browse through your retention schedule. If you have any questions, want to add any categories, or make any changes, please contact us at records.management@kingcounty.gov.

Instructions and help

infographic about reading retention schedules


The graphic above provides some basic explanation about what the different retention schedule elements mean and how they can be used. For more guidance, you can also review our recorded training How to Use Retention Schedules (external link, 1 hour video).

How do I search the retention schedules?

In the Search box above, type any word or phrase that you know of and that might be in the title or notes/description of the record category. For example, enter budget to find all categories that contain the word budget in the title or descriptions. If, instead, you want to search the DAN (Disposition Authority Number) or state series title, select those options before performing the search.

Do not use quotation marks when performing searches for phrases. Instead enter phrases without quotation marks.

How can I export the information in these schedules?

Export from this page

  1. Put your cursor anywhere in the first line of the schedule you want to export
  2. Hold down the Shift key then click the down arrow key until you reach the bottom
  3. Right click anywhere on the schedule and select Copy and then Copy Selection
  4. Open a blank Excel spreadsheet, place your cursor in an empty cell (usually A1) then press Ctrl + V

OR, Export from Teams

If you want to export the data in these retention schedules to an Excel spreadsheet, the easiest way to do that is by viewing them on the Agency Records Management Dashboard on the county's internal Records Management Network Teams site. From there, you will need to re-filter by agency. Then follow the instructions on that dashboard to Export to Excel. You might be directed to request permission to view that dashboard.

How do I update retention schedules?

To make any updates to retention schedules (including adding additional categories, removing obsolete categories, or making any language changes) please contact the County Records and Information Management Program (CRIMP) at records.management@kingcounty.gov.