Is it possible to enforce complete metadata retention for media attachments within digital channel bulk exports under a legal hold status?
We are processing a discovery request requiring a strict chain of custody for all customer interactions. While voice recordings export correctly with full headers, WhatsApp image and PDF attachments processed via the Media API show truncated metadata in the final S3 bucket. The bulk export job completes successfully, but the manifest file lacks the original_timestamp and sender_id fields for these specific file types. This creates a compliance risk as we cannot prove the exact time of receipt for the evidence.
The export was triggered via the /api/v2/analytics/details/query endpoint with timeGrouping set to none. We have verified that the legal_hold flag is true on the organization level. The SDK version used is genesys-cloud-node-sdk v6.2.1. Standard chat transcripts export fine, but any binary attachment loses the critical audit trail fields upon finalization. Is this a known limitation of the digital channel export pipeline, or is there a specific configuration in the data retention policy that needs to be adjusted to preserve these fields?
I think the metadata truncation happens when the payload exceeds the default chunk size in the JMeter loop. Try adjusting the batch parameters. Use this config for the export job:
{
"batchSize": 50,
"metadataDepth": "full",
"includeAttachments": true
}
This forces complete header retention during high-throughput exports.
This is typically caused by the way Genesys Cloud handles binary data versus structured JSON during bulk exports, which is quite different from how Zendesk handled attachments in their ticketing system. In Zendesk, attachments were often treated as simple file references within the ticket object, but here, media files are stored separately and linked via interaction IDs. The manifest file you are seeing likely only contains the interaction metadata, not the full binary payload details. To get the complete chain of custody, you need to enable the ‘Include Media Metadata’ toggle in the Bulk Export configuration under Admin > Data > Export Settings. This ensures that the export job pulls the associated media objects and their headers alongside the interaction records. It is a bit more manual than the all-in-one export we were used to in Zendesk, but it guarantees compliance. Make sure to verify the S3 bucket permissions too, as sometimes the media folder has different access controls than the main data bucket.
This is a standard limitation of the bulk export engine rather than a configuration error. The suggestion above regarding batch parameters is technically sound for throughput, but it does not address the metadata gap itself. The truncation occurs because the Media API treats binary objects separately from the interaction record, and the manifest only captures the primary interaction attributes. To resolve this, one must query the Interaction Details API directly for each interaction ID listed in the manifest. This endpoint returns the full media object references, including the complete chain of custody headers that the bulk export omits. While this requires additional scripting to correlate the data, it ensures compliance with legal hold requirements. The documentation confirms that bulk exports prioritize speed over granular metadata retention for digital channels, making the API enrichment step mandatory for full audit trails.