Choose retention for the way you work
In Settings → History, retention applies to unpinned copies from their recorded creation date. One day can suit recent tasks, seven days can cover a working week and thirty days keeps more context. These are starting points, not universal security recommendations.
Before reducing the period, pin the few references you still need. Changing from thirty to seven days can remove older copies during cleanup. Increasing it afterwards does not restore them. Keep important documents in their original tools.
Keep pins, not every old copy
A pinned copy is not automatically removed because of age, the recent-item count or the storage limit. You can keep a project link or reusable reply while ordinary old copies expire.
A pin is still a copy inside Dashi, not an independent backup. Individual deletion can remove it, and Clear Everything also removes pins after confirmation. Unpinning an older item can make it immediately eligible for cleanup.
Why Never does not mean unlimited storage
Never disables age-based deletion. It does not disable the recent-item limit or the storage limit. An older unpinned copy can still be removed to satisfy those limits.
Pins count toward storage but are not automatically evicted to reclaim space. If pinned content prevents Dashi from meeting its storage limit, new captures can be refused. Check usage in settings and remove references you no longer need.
When does cleanup happen?
Dashi checks cleanup during new captures, at startup, after relevant settings changes and periodically while running. This is not a promise to delete a copy at the exact second it reaches its age limit.
An app that has been quit cannot run cleanup. Full locking also suspends operations that require access to the history; cleanup resumes when Dashi can access it again. To remove a particular entry now, use its delete button rather than waiting for expiry.
Deleting history does not clear the system clipboard
The macOS system clipboard holds your current copy. Dashi history stores earlier copies it accepted. Deleting a Dashi entry does not replace the current system clipboard or remove the same information from Notes, an email or a document.
Cleanup does not remove older backups or guarantee forensic disk erasure. To reduce what is recorded in the first place, use pause, app exclusions and the encryption choice. These serve different purposes and complement retention.
Example: finish a week of project work
During the week, Camille Morel copies meeting links, a delivery reference and brief excerpts. She pins only the active project folder link and keeps seven days of history. Older unpinned copies are removed during cleanup; the pinned folder link stays available.
When the project ends, she removes the pin after checking that the reference is saved in the original project folder. This scenario and its names are fictional. No passwords or confidential documents are needed to try the workflow.
A common question
Can I recover a copy after automatic deletion?
Dashi does not restore copies after automatic cleanup. Increasing retention does not bring deleted items back. The short undo window for manually clearing recent items is not a trash folder for expired copies.
Sources and product behavior
Dashi behavior described here applies to the current version for macOS 14 or later. Example people and projects are fictional.