Data retention and uninstall

Read time: 5 minutes. Last updated: June 20, 2026 Who it's for: Merchants who want to know what QuotWay stores, how long files are kept on their plan, and what happens to their data when they uninstall or reinstall.

QuotWay stores the data it needs to run your quoting workflow, and no more. This article covers what's stored, how long attachments and generated PDFs are retained on each plan, and what happens to everything when you uninstall - including the recovery window that lets you reinstall and pick up where you left off.

What does QuotWay store?

QuotWay stores the data that makes up your quoting history and configuration:

Quotes - line items, buyer-requested and proposed prices, versions, counter-offers, and statuses.
Buyer contact details captured on a quote (name, email, and any contact fields your form collects).
Messages exchanged on each quote.
Attachments uploaded to quotes and messages.
Generated PDFs (proposals, confirmations, pro-forma invoices).
Your settings - targeting rules, quote-form configuration, branding, automation, approval workflows, and staff roles.

Your Shopify products, customers, and orders live in Shopify, not in QuotWay. QuotWay reads them to build quotes but doesn't take ownership of them.

How long are attachments and PDFs kept?

Attachments and generated PDFs follow a retention policy that scales with your plan. After the retention period, files are deleted.

Plan	Attachment & PDF retention
Lite	30 days
Starter	90 days
Professional	180 days
Enterprise	365 days

The retention window applies to the stored files - the attachments buyers and staff upload, and the PDFs QuotWay generates. Your quote records and history aren't on this clock; it's the files that are deleted after the retention period. If you need a file long term, download it before its window closes.

Retention is a per-plan policy, not a setting you configure file by file. Moving to a higher plan keeps your files longer.

For everything about file types, limits, and validation, see File attachments.

What happens when I uninstall?

Uninstalling doesn't delete your data right away. When you uninstall QuotWay, your quote data is preserved for a recovery window before it's permanently deleted. This protects you against an accidental uninstall and gives you a chance to come back.

Your Shopify products, customers, and orders are untouched - they stay in Shopify regardless of whether QuotWay is installed.

After the recovery window, QuotWay permanently deletes your store's data as part of Shopify's data-redaction process. Once that happens, the data is gone and can't be restored.

The recovery window is the period mandated by Shopify between an uninstall and the data-redaction request that follows it. Reinstall within that window to keep your data.

What happens when I reinstall?

If you reinstall within the recovery window, QuotWay picks up where you left off. Your quotes, settings, branding, staff, and history are reactivated, and you continue as before - including any remaining trial days. Reinstalling does not grant a fresh trial; you resume with whatever trial time you had left.

If you reinstall after the recovery window has closed and your data has been redacted, you start fresh - a clean install with no prior data. If recent data looks missing right after a reinstall, contact support with your shop domain and we can confirm what state your shop record is in.

What about a single buyer's data?

This article is about your whole store's data. If you need to handle one buyer's data-access or deletion request, see GDPR data requests and erasure, which covers the per-buyer export and what's redacted on erasure.

GDPR data requests and erasure - handling an individual buyer's data request or erasure.
File attachments - file types, per-plan limits, and validation.
Plans, trial, and billing - retention windows per plan and how billing works on uninstall.