---
title: "Archive"
source: https://dev.pageseeder.com/reference/glossary/archive.html
description: "Archive is a default PageSeeder folder that preserves document relationships and historical information instead of deleting content, maintaining data integrity while allowing recovery of archived documents, groups, and fragments."
last_updated: 2026-09-08T12:22:35+10:00
tokens: ~516
---

# Archive

is a default [folder](/reference/glossary/folder.md) in every [group](/reference/glossary/group.md), and it is also a verb that describes a feature of the system. The folder is created by the system when the group is created. How the feature works is easier to understand with some background.

The fundamental concept of PageSeeder’s [XLink](/reference/glossary/xlink.md) architecture is that documents, [fragments](/reference/glossary/fragment.md), [sections](/reference/glossary/section.md), [comments](/reference/glossary/comment.md), [tasks](/reference/glossary/task.md), [xrefs](/reference/glossary/cross_reference.md), [memberships](/reference/glossary/member.md) and [groups](/reference/glossary/group.md) are created, then edited by [members](/reference/glossary/member.md). Both the current and historical information is linked together in one or more groups. By definition, all PageSeeder artifacts have dependencies.

PageSeeder documents represent the intersection of content, members and time. Because [deleting](/reference/glossary/delete.md) documents breaks these connections, the purpose of the archive is to preserve the relationships. PageSeeder places an archived document in the **archive** folder, then in a subfolder for the current year and month. A reference to an archived PageSeeder document appears like the following:

![Archived ref](/content/images/glossary/archived_xref_v60000.webp)

and [reverse links](/reference/glossary/reverse_xref.md) are displayed like this:

![Document references panel – Archived ref](/content/images/glossary/xref_panel_archived_v60000.webp)

These visual clues can be used to help users edit out obsolete references.

The integrity of the data is also the reason why PageSeeder’s [delete](/reference/glossary/delete.md) feature requires special configuration to access.

When you archive a *group*, it is moved to the **archive project**, so that it can be recovered at another stage. Memberships, [comment](/reference/glossary/comment.md)s and fragments can also be archived and recovered.