# Applying & Removing Legal Holds

You can apply a legal hold to a document in four ways:
  * A user applies a legal hold to a single document.
  * A user applies a legal hold to many documents using a bulk action.
  * An Admin "universally" applies a legal hold to all documents with field values that match the scope of the _Legal Hold_ object record.
  * Vault automatically applies the hold to any documents that "enter" the scope of the legal hold after it enters _Approved_ state. This can happen when users create a new document that matches the scope or when users edit field values on a document.

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      <p><strong>Note</strong>: Only legal holds in <em>Approved</em> state can apply to documents.</p>
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A legal hold will not apply to documents created or updated in Document Migration Mode. A Legal User or an Admin must reevaluate the _Legal Hold_ object record after the document is created or updated.

Once you apply a legal hold to a document, a **Gavel** icon displays on the Doc Info page and the hovercard for that document.

For more information, see [About Legal Holds](/en/lr/36467/).

## How to Apply Legal Hold to Individual Documents

To apply a legal hold to a specific document:

  1. Open the document.
  2. From the **Actions** menu, select **Apply Legal Hold**.
  3. Choose the legal hold to apply from the picklist of _Legal Hold_ records in _Approved_ state.
  4. Click **Continue**. The document is now under a legal hold.

## How to Remove Legal Hold from Individual Documents

To remove a legal hold from a specific document:

  1. Open the document.
  2. From the **Actions** menu, select **Edit Legal Hold**. In the **Edit Legal Hold** dialog, click the **X** next to a legal hold to remove its link to the document.
  3. Click **OK**.
  4. The document is no longer under the particular legal hold and if it is not under any other legal holds, users can delete it.

## How to Edit Legal Holds

To change the legal holds applied to a document:

  1. Open the document.
  2. From the **Actions** menu, select **Edit Legal Hold**.
  3. Vault displays all approved legal holds applied to the document. Add and remove Legal Holds from the list as needed.
  4. Click **OK**.

## Legal Holds on Binders

Binders are subject to legal hold just like any other document. Once a binder is under a legal hold, users cannot delete it, but users can still modify its document fields or structure and add/remove documents.

Placing a binder under legal hold does not place all of the component documents under legal hold.

## How to Universally Apply Legal Hold

To use the "universal" apply action:

  1. Navigate to the **Legal Hold** object record.
  2. From the **Actions** menu, select **Apply Legal Hold**.
  3. Click **Continue**.
  4. This action is asynchronous, so you will receive a notification and email when the job finishes. After the job finishes, all documents within the scope are under legal hold.

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      <p><strong>Note</strong>: The <strong>Universal Apply</strong> action can only occur once per <em>Legal Hold</em> object record.</p>
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## How to Apply and Remove Legal Holds Using Bulk Actions

You can apply and remove legal holds [using bulk actions](/en/lr/18822/).

## Related Permissions

<table class="wbord">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <strong>Type</strong>
    </td>
    <td>
      <strong>Permission Label</strong>
    </td>
    <td>
      <strong>Controls</strong>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Security Profile
    </td>
    <td>
      Object: Legal Hold
    </td>
    <td>
      Ability to read, create, edit, and delete records in the <em>Legal Hold</em> object.
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Security Profile
    </td>
    <td>
      Application: Legal Hold: Apply
    </td>
    <td>
      Ability to apply a legal hold.
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Security Profile
    </td>
    <td>
      Application: Legal Hold: Remove
    </td>
    <td>
      Ability to remove a legal hold.
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Document Role
    </td>
    <td>
      View Document
    </td>
    <td>
      Ability to view the document; you must have this permission to apply or remove a legal hold from a document.
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>