Archiving and Unarchiving a Record

Overview

The Archive feature allows users to deactivate Record(s) whilst retaining it and all associated data for future reference. Archiving removes the Record from active views so it does not contribute to active Reporting or child aggregation expressions either but does not delete it, ensuring data remains intact and retrievable.

This is particularly beneficial for managing records across performance cycles, maintaining clean workspaces, and preserving historical records for compliance and reference.

Note: Archiving via either of the methods that will be given in this article requires full access to the Records and user permissions sufficient to perform the action. If you have full access to the Records and do not see the archive option then contact your system administrator to ask about promoting your user permissions.

Use Case Scenario

As an example use case let's suppose it is the end of the FY2024 performance review cycle, all managers have completed and submitted their employee performance plans. To prepare for the FY2025 cycle and reduce clutter in dashboards, the HR team archives all FY2024 plans.

This ensures only active performance plans are visible, while still allowing management to reference or restore FY2024 data for performance trends, audit requirements, or historical comparison.

Note: For reference, this process could also be handled using a current year report base filtered to 2025.

Archiving a Record(s)

There are two ways to archive a records:

Method 1: Archive from the Table Report View

1. Navigate to the Table of Records.

2. Select the checkbox next to the plan(s) you want to archive.

3. Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner.

4. Select Archive.

In our use case we have selected the 2024 Performance Plans that we wish to archive and the count at the top of the Report confirms how many Records we will be archiving. We then choose Archive from the Action menu and so we will now click 'Yes' on the Confirm Archive modal.

We receive a notification to confirm that the archive is complete and the Records that have been archived will initially show as greyed out but be removed next time we visit the Report.

Method 2: Archive from Within a Record

1. Open the Performance Plan you wish to archive.

2. Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner.

3. Select Archive.

This method is more likely to be used if a Record has either been created in error or if it is an ad hoc task that an item in an App needs archiving. Here we have opened a Performance Plan and selected archive. Again we will see a confirmation message to ensure that we really do intent to archive the Plan.

We know that we have archived the Record as we now have a banner at the top of the Record to state that the Record is archived. When we click back to the Report it will no longer show in the active list. We will look next at how to view archived records and retrieve them if we would like to.

Viewing Archived Records

1. In the Table Report, click the ellipsis menu (⋯).

2. Select Show Archived to view archived records.

We can see that when we select 'Show Archived', it shows us the four Performance Plans that we previously archived.

There are two navigation paths to return to the active records:

1. Click on the 'Archived' tag at the top of the Report

2. Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner and select 'Hide Archived'

Unarchiving a Record(s)

Unarchiving follows very similar paths to archiving with two methods. For either of these methods you must first be in the 'Archived View' as outlined above.

Method 1: Archive from the Table Report View

1. Navigate to the Table of Records.

2. Select 'Show Archived' from the Report action menu.

3. Select the checkbox next to the plan(s) you want to archive.

4. Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner.

5. Select Unarchive.

In the above screenshot, we have selected the 2024 Performance Plans that we previously archived and the count at the top of the Report confirms how many Records we will be unarchiving. We have chosen 'Unarchive' from the Action menu and so we will now click 'Yes' on the Confirm Archive modal.

We again receive a notification to confirm that the unarchive is complete and the Records that have been unarchived will show as active in colour again. They will be removed from the archived list of records and show in the active reports again as we next navigate to these areas.

Method 2: Archive from Within a Record

1. Select 'Show Archived' from the Report

2. Open the Performance Plan you wish to archive.

3. Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner.

4. Select Unarchive.

We again take the additional confirmation step to make sure that we really do want to unarchive the Record. In our scenario we could be unarchiving the Performance Plan as it was initially archived following a change of role that in the ended up being delayed.

We know that we have unarchived the Record as we now no longer have a banner at the top of the Record to state that the Record is archived. When we click back to the Report it will only appear in the active views.

Archiving and Unarchiving Child Records

When we archive a Record, we need to check the state of any Child Records. There is a configuration option available to the App Builder to auto archive Child Records when the Parent Record is archived however it may be that this is not the desired functionality and so not enabled.

In our scenario we could have a KPI Tracker linked to our Performance Plan which tracks the key metrics each employee is responsible for that contributes to the overall performance. When we archive the Performance Plan it may be that the KPIs were also for that year and so complete and can be archived along with the Plan. Alternatively, it may be that these Records are re-linked to the new FY2025 Plan and so remain live.

If you need to archive Child Records when archiving a Record, then click into the Child Application from the main Record in the Left Pane Menu and following the Archiving and Unarchiving methods detailed in this article.