What's already set up for you, and what you still need to do. Getting this right matters, so it's worth stating plainly up front:

Part 1 — Assign the permission set

  1. In Setup, go to Permission Sets.
  2. Find the one named Audit Archive Retrieval User (API name Audit_Archive_Retrieval_User).
  3. Click Manage Assignments → Add Assignment → select every user who needs to configure archive jobs, view the dashboard, or run the retrieval/merge tool.

This grants object/field access, Apex class access, the two app tabs (Archive Job Manager, Archive Job Dashboard), and access to the S3 authentication principal used in Part 3. Without it, a user can install the app but can't do anything with it.

Part 2 — Add the tabs to your navigation

Optional but recommended. The two tabs — Archive Job Manager and Archive Job Dashboard — are available to any assigned user from the App Launcher even without further setup. To add them to a custom app or Lightning navigation bar: Setup → App Manager → edit your app → Navigation Items.

Part 3 — Connect your own AWS S3 bucket

Required before anything can actually archive. FilePreserve uses Salesforce's native AWS Signature Version 4 (SigV4) authentication, built directly into the package's External Credential — not a custom integration.

Supported, tested A real AWS S3 bucket, in your own AWS account.
Likely to work S3-compatible services using the same SigV4 signing (Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2) — point the Named Credential's URL at that endpoint instead. Not verified by us against any of these specifically.
Not supported Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage use a different signing scheme entirely — won't work as shipped.

3a. Create the S3 bucket

  1. In the AWS Console, go to S3 → Create bucket.
  2. Pick a bucket name and AWS region — note both, you'll need them below.
  3. Recommended: enable Object Lock at creation time (can't be turned on later for an existing bucket).
  4. Leave "Block all public access" on — FilePreserve authenticates via IAM credentials, not a public bucket.

3b. Create an IAM user/policy with S3 access

  1. In the AWS Console, go to IAM → Users → Create user. Use a dedicated user for FilePreserve, not a personal/root login.
  2. Attach a policy scoped to just this bucket — not AmazonS3FullAccess across your whole account:
    {
      "Version": "2012-10-17",
      "Statement": [
        {
          "Effect": "Allow",
          "Action": ["s3:PutObject", "s3:GetObject"],
          "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::YOUR-BUCKET-NAME/*"
        }
      ]
    }
  3. Under Security credentials for this IAM user, create an Access key. AWS shows the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key exactly once — copy both somewhere safe now.
  4. Note your AWS Account ID (top-right account menu, or the IAM dashboard).

3c. Point the Named Credential at your bucket

  1. In Salesforce Setup, go to Named Credentials and open S3 Audit Archive.
  2. Edit the Url parameter. It ships as a placeholder (https://REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-BUCKET.s3.REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-REGION.amazonaws.com) — replace with your real bucket's endpoint, e.g. https://your-bucket-name.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com.

3d. Point the External Credential at your AWS credentials

  1. In Salesforce Setup, go to External Credentials and open S3 Audit Archive.
  2. Update AwsRegion (your bucket's region, matching the Named Credential URL) and AwsAccountId (from step 3b.4).
  3. Under Principals, open S3ArchivePrincipal and enter the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key from step 3b.3. Salesforce computes the SigV4 signature automatically on every request — you never sign anything yourself.

3e. Confirm the connection works

Once Part 1 and Part 4 are also done, run a job via Run Now on the Archive Job Manager tab and check the Archive Job Dashboard for a successful run. If it fails immediately with a connectivity-looking error, double-check the bucket name/region match exactly between the Named Credential URL and the External Credential's AwsRegion — this is the most common setup mistake.

Part 4 — Define what to archive

Nothing is pre-created — FilePreserve doesn't know what you want archived until you tell it.

  1. Open the Archive Job Manager tab.
  2. Create a new Archive Job Config: pick a source object (any object you have access to), build filter criteria (AND/OR/Custom logic — same shape as a Salesforce list view filter), set a retention period in months and a legal hold flag if relevant, and set a schedule (Daily, Weekly, or custom).
  3. You can review the pre-run impact estimate (matched record count, attached file count/size, estimated duration) to make sure this looks like the right amount of affected records before committing.
  4. Save, then check the Active box to turn the schedule on — FilePreserve runs it automatically from here.
  5. Add the retrieval/export tool's Quick Action to relevant record page layouts (Setup → Object Manager → [Object] → Page Layouts → add "Audit Ready File Merge").

Confirming it's working end-to-end

  1. On the Archive Job Manager tab, click Run Now on your job.
  2. Go to the Archive Job Dashboard tab and confirm the run shows as succeeded, with a non-zero records-processed count.
  3. Open one of the archived records and confirm an archive entry shows up in its related list.
  4. On that same record, run Audit Ready File Merge and confirm the archived file is pulled back in and included in the resulting PDF.

If all four check out, your first archive job is running successfully, future scheduled runs will happen automatically, and retrieval is confirmed working too.

Getting help

This guide is meant to get you fully set up without a call. If you'd still like a hand — especially with the AWS/S3 setup in Part 3 — onboarding assistance is available.

Book a 30-minute onboarding call