Releasing records, and closing a request

Last updated: August 21, 2026

Once your documents are approved, releasing them is one action in the reply composer. This article covers packaging the records, sending them, and closing the request afterwards.

Publishing the same records to your public archive is a separate decision, made after the release rather than as part of it. See Publishing to your public archive.

How to release records to a requester

  1. Open the request and go to Case/Media.
  2. In the right rail, under Consolidated Documents Properties, set Package format.
  3. Set Expiration if the link should stop working after a date.
  4. Go back to Request Details and write your reply in the composer.
  5. Click Attach package delivery and attach the package.
  6. Confirm the Web + email toggle is on, then click Send Reply.

Only approved documents go into a package. Anything still in review, or rejected, stays out.

Your agency's defaults for format, expiry, download rules and PIN protection are set under Settings, then Records & Compliance, then Package Delivery. You can override any of them per package.

After the package has gone

The package appears inside the thread, so the release sits in the correspondence rather than in a separate system.

  • Access history shows who opened the link and when.
  • Revoke link withdraws access immediately. Use it if you release something in error.
  • An expired package shows an expired badge and the requester can no longer open it.

Revoking is not the same as unsending. Anything already downloaded is already out. Revoking stops further access, and the fact that you revoked is recorded.

Tell the requester when the link expires

Put the expiry date in the reply that carries the package. A link expiring is not a surprise if they were told when it would, and it saves the follow-up asking why the records have disappeared.

Closing the request

Once everything has been released or refused, move Status to your closing status. In the starter configuration that is Closed.

Closed is where a finished request rests, but it is not sealed. A closed request can be moved back to an open status, and a requester's reply can bring it back on its own.

When that happens the original deadline is not revived, because you met it. The resolution clock takes a fresh date from your agency's reopen window. A requester can still write to you after closure, and you can still reply without changing the status at all.