Emails, Texts, Calendars & Public Communications

JM Audits Request Template

Emails, Texts, Calendars & Public Communications

Request public-business communications across government email, text messaging, calendars, collaboration tools, and agency-managed or personal devices.

Before sending: Use specific custodians, keywords, senders/recipients, and a reasonable date range. Narrow search terms usually produce better results and lower review costs.

Copy-and-paste request

Subject: Public Records Request – Emails, Text Messages and Communications

Hello,

This is a public records request for communications concerning:

Topic, incident, project, or decision: [SUBJECT]
Custodians / employees: [NAMES AND TITLES]
Date range: [START DATE AND TIME] through [END DATE AND TIME]
Keywords, names, addresses, case numbers, or senders/recipients: [SEARCH TERMS]

Please search the locations used to conduct public business and provide:

1. Emails, including sent, received, draft, archived, deleted-but-retained, and recovered messages, with attachments and embedded files.
2. SMS/MMS text messages, iMessages, chat messages, direct messages, and communications in agency-approved collaboration or messaging platforms.
3. Communications concerning public business sent or received on personal devices or personal accounts, to the extent they are public records and within the agency's custody or control.
4. Calendar entries, meeting invitations, attendee lists, agendas, descriptions, notes, changes, cancellations, and attachments.
5. Voicemail, call logs, contact records, and other responsive electronic communications maintained by the agency.
6. Export or search-result information showing the custodians, repositories, date range, and search terms used to locate responsive records.

Please produce messages in a format that preserves sender, recipients, copy recipients, date/time, subject, full message body, attachments, and message-thread context. An email export, PDF with complete headers, or other searchable electronic production is acceptable. Please provide attachments in their original maintained formats when available.

Please do not exclude a communication solely because it was sent from a personal device or account if it documents public business. If the agency believes another custodian or employee possesses responsive public records, please take reasonable steps to obtain them or identify the appropriate custodian.

Redact only legally exempt material, produce all segregable non-exempt portions, and identify the specific authority for each withholding. If estimated charges will exceed $[AMOUNT], provide an itemized written estimate and the proposed search method before chargeable work begins.

Please confirm receipt and provide the request number.

Thank you,

[NAME]
[EMAIL]
[OPTIONAL PHONE]

Download .txt

Need help using this request? Read the step-by-step public-records guide →

Use it effectively

Replace every bracketed field before sending.
Keep the request focused by identifying a date range, person, incident, case number, or system.
Ask for records electronically and in their existing or native format when available.
Keep the request, confirmation, estimate, payment record, and production together.

Not legal advice: These sample requests are provided for educational and informational purposes and reflect request language used by JM Audits. They are not legal advice, do not create an attorney-client relationship, and may need to be adapted for your jurisdiction and circumstances.