> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://support.vlex.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://support.vlex.com/vincent-by-vlex/vincent/getting-started-with-vincent/understand-persistent-memory-in-vincent.md).

# Understand Persistent Memory in Vincent

The Vincent legal assistant uses persistent memory to retain matter facts, your preferences, and prior work across sessions.

### Summary

The Vincent legal assistant retains your preferences and prior work across sessions through persistent memory, following your account's data retention policy.

### Why This is Important

Without memory, you'd need to re-explain your working preferences and formatting conventions every time you start a new conversation with Vincent. Persistent memory removes that friction: once you tell Vincent how you like to work, it remembers, for as long as your account's retention policy allows, so you don't have to repeat yourself. This means:

* Less time spent restating drafting style, tone, and formatting instructions in every new conversation.
* More consistent output across matters, without re-establishing preferences each time.
* Conversation details you confirm in a session carry forward into your standing preferences, instead of disappearing once you close the chat.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Persistent memory is not the same as your current conversation.** The context window only covers what's visible in your active session. Persistent memory is what carries forward afterward.
{% endhint %}

### How Vincent's Memory Works

Vincent's persistent memory works across two layers:

* **User memory** — Your individual working preferences: drafting style, tone, formatting conventions, and instructions you tend to repeat. These apply across every matter and conversation, not just one case.
* **Conversation memory** — The decisions, outputs, and confirmed facts from your current working session. At the end of the session, the relevant parts are carried forward into your user memory, so nothing gets lost between conversations.

### Data Retention

Memory follows your account's data retention policy. Retention is applied to each memory individually, based on when it was created, so memories expire on a rolling basis rather than all at once.

For example: if your account's retention period is one year, and you tell Vincent today to keep your emails brief, that preference lasts for one year from today. If you add a new preference six months later, that second memory lasts one year from that later date, so the first preference could expire while the second one remains active.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Retention periods are account-level.** Check with your firm's administrator to confirm the retention period configured for your account.
{% endhint %}

### Best Practices & Pro Tips

* **Set your preferences early.** Establish your preferred drafting style, tone, and formatting conventions in one of your first conversations with Vincent. Once stored in memory, they apply automatically going forward, so you don't have to repeat them every time.
* **Restate preferences that matter most before they expire.** Because memory follows a rolling retention window, a standing instruction you set months ago could expire while a more recent one remains active. If a preference is critical to how you work, revisit it periodically rather than assuming it will persist indefinitely.

### Related Articles

* [Understanding Data Protection](/vincent-by-vlex/vincent/security-privacy-and-compliance/understanding-data-protection.md)
* [Requesting a Demo or Trial of Vincent](/vincent-by-vlex/vincent/support-and-account-administration/requesting-a-demo-or-trial-of-vincent.md)

**What's Your Next Step?**

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