Many organizations have large archives of documents that are no longer relevant in day-to-day operations. The Document Archive feature supports this by:
- Allowing users to archive documents in a variety of ways
- Providing the Archive document field (Yes/No) that indicates if a document is in the archive
- Excluding archived documents in standard searches
- Hiding archived documents in the Library and in other document tabs
- Blocking actions that would modify an archived document
- Providing a standard tab where you can find archived documents
- Providing permissions to ensure that only authorized users can access archived documents
How to Enable Archiving
You can enable the Document Archive feature by selecting the Enable Document Archiving checkbox from Admin > Settings > Search Settings. Once enabled, Admins cannot disable this feature.
How to Archive Documents
When you archive a document, the hidden Archive (archive__v) document field is set to true. If you later un-archive a document, the field is set to false. This field is standard on all document types, but is hidden and not directly editable through the UI.
You can archive (or un-archive) documents through:
- The Archive Document and Unarchive Document options in the document Actions menu
- Vault Loader and Vault REST API by setting the Archive (
archive__v) field totrue. - Bulk document actions, using the Archive Documents and Unarchive Documents settings
How to Archive Documents Using Bulk Actions
You can use bulk document actions to make changes on up to 1,000 documents at once. See Using Bulk Document Actions for information on how to select documents for editing and for general information on bulk actions.
The Archive Documents action is available when you select documents from anywhere but the Archive tab. When selecting documents from the Archive tab, the Unarchive Documents action is available.
- From the Choose Action page, select Archive Documents or Unarchive Documents.
- Click Next.
- From the Confirmation page, review the summary of changes.
- Click Finish. When the changes are complete, a notice will appear in your Notifications page and Vault will send you an email.
Archive Icon
Any document that you archive displays the archive icon in document tabs and in the Doc Info page.
How to Search Archive Documents
Searches will automatically filter out archived documents, but you can choose to include these documents using Advanced Search. From there, set the Search Archive setting to Yes.
If you are on the Archive tab, you can directly search only archived documents in the search bar.
Effects of Archiving
When a document is in the archive, certain actions are blocked:
- Editing document fields (see note)
- Adding or removing document relationships
- Adding or removing attachments
- Adding or removing renditions
- Adding, removing, editing, or importing annotations
- Importing document links
- Running the Suggest Links action or accepting pending links (allows users to reject pending links)
- Adding, removing, or editing document-level comments
- Re-rendering the document
- Checking out the document
- Starting a workflow
- Moving a document to a new lifecycle state
- Reclassifying a document
- Executing user actions
- Seeing or executing SDK user actions
- Deleting the document (allowed with Power Delete permission)
- Deleting document versions (allowed with Power Delete permission)
There are also automatic changes that Vault makes to a document after a user archives it:
- Sets the document’s Merge Fields value to No to prevent changes
- Binds the current version for CrossLink documents to prevent changes
- Populates the Archive Date document field
Note: Although users cannot modify field values on an archived document, there are certain situations where the field value can change:
- Lookup fields continue to update to display the latest information from the source field.
- Labels for picklist values and object references continue to be dynamic and reflect changes made to those items.
Related Permissions
The following permissions control access for archiving documents and working with archived documents:
| Type | Permission Label | Controls |
| Security Profile | Application: Search: View Archive | Ability to view documents in the archive, search the document archive, and view the standard Archive tab; note that users must also have the document role permission View Document. |
| Security Profile | Application: Search: Manage Archive | Ability to archive or unarchive documents by default. This permission is granted through the Vault Owner and System Admin permission sets. |
| Security Profile | Tabs: Archive | Ability to view the standard Archive tab if you also have the above permission. |
| Security Profile | API: Access API | Ability to complete an API call, which is needed to archive documents via the API. |
| Security Profile | Vault Owner: Actions: Vault Loader | Ability to see and use the Loader tab to update the Archive field on documents. |
| Security Profile | Document: Bulk Update | Ability to access bulk document actions in order to archive or unarchive documents. |
Note: Users with a Read-only license type cannot view or access the Archive tab, even if their security profile grants the appropriate permissions.
Limitations
The following limitations apply to archiving functionality:
- Bulk document actions cannot archive or unarchive CrossLink documents. You must use the API or the document Actions menu for CrossLinks.