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Retention schedules

A retention schedule is a legal document that provides information about how to manage records throughout their lifecycle. All King County retention schedules are displayed in the table below. The table gives you the option of choosing either:

  • the General Schedule (can be used by all county agencies - common administrative records only)
  • or an Agency-Specific Schedule (that aligns to the Department-Division-Section where you work - this is also the list of categories you have access to in Content Manager). 

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 every day. King County employees should only use retention schedules on this page to manage their records. It is not advised to use old versions of retention schedules. 

King County Records Retention Schedules

Instructions and help

The Records Management Program periodically audits all King County schedules to ensure they comply with state requirements as described in Washington State records retention schedules. As a result of this, the retention schedules shown on this page might change over time. These schedules are automatically updated once per day and are the most current versions of all county schedules.

In May 2023, all schedules were updated to reflect the archival designations as described in Washington State retention schedules. This change only affected a small number of categories. If you have any questions about that change, please contact King County Archivist Hannah Soukup at HSoukup@kingcounty.gov.

On October 2, 2024, the Washington State Local Records Committee approved the Local Government Common Records Retention Schedule (CORE) version 5.0. This update significantly affected many record series applicable to King County records. For reference, see the complete list of affected series with substantive change.

How do I search for retention schedules?

In the Search box, 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 (to locate your agency-specific schedule) or choose General Schedule (to locate that schedule). Then follow the instructions on that dashboard to Export to Excel. You might be directed to request permission to view that dashboard.

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