Archive category

Archiving a category removes it and all the articles inside it from the category tree and the knowledge base site, while keeping their version history intact. Archived categories are stored on the Archive page, where you can find, preview, and unarchive them. Use archiving to retire a whole section of your knowledge base without deleting it.

When to archive a category

• An entire product area, feature set, or process has been retired and its documentation is no longer relevant to readers.
• You are restructuring your knowledge base and want to take a section offline without losing its content.
• A seasonal or campaign-specific section is not currently in use but will be needed again later.
• You want to remove a section from search results and Eddy AI responses while keeping it recoverable.

Before you begin

Before archiving a category, ensure the following:

• You have View and Update permissions for the workspace. Team members with view-only access cannot archive categories.
• You have reviewed the articles inside the category. Every article in the category is archived along with it.
• You have checked where the category and its articles are linked from. Archiving affects related articles, replicated instances, internal links, and article redirect rules.

Archive a category

1. Navigate to Documentation () in the left navigation bar.
2. Hover over the category in the Categories & Articles pane and click the More () icon.
3. Select Archive (). The Confirm archive dialog appears, listing the areas that archiving affects.
4. Review the listed areas and click Archive.

The Confirm archive dialog asks you to verify the integrity of linked content before proceeding. It lists four areas:

• Related articles: articles in the archived category are no longer suggested as related articles.
• Replicates: replicated instances of articles in the category are removed from their categories.
• Internal links: links to articles in the archived category no longer resolve.
• Article redirection rules: redirect rules pointing to articles in the category are affected.

Other ways to archive a category

• From the category manager: Open the category manager, hover over the category, click the More () icon, and select Archive (). Confirm the action.
• From the category page editor: Open the category page, click the More () icon at the top right, and select Archive (). Confirm the action.

What happens when you archive a category

• The category and all articles within it are removed from the category tree and moved to the Archived page.
• The category page and its articles are no longer accessible on the knowledge base site. Direct links return a page-not-found response.
• The category and its articles are excluded from portal search, knowledge base site search, and AI-powered search. Search exclusion takes effect within 60 seconds.
• Articles in the category are no longer suggested by dynamic related article recommendations.
• Revision history, metadata, tags, attachments, and SEO settings are preserved for the category page and every article inside it.
• Content resources are preserved, but the archived items are hidden from the dependency viewer in the variables, snippets, glossary, and Drive modules.
• Slugs of the category and its articles remain reserved and cannot be reused.
• The archive action is recorded in Team auditing, and relevant users receive a notification.

Archived content and category deletion

Archived sub-categories and articles remain linked to their parent category. This affects what happens when the parent category is deleted.

If you delete a parent category, its archived sub-categories and articles are permanently removed from your knowledge base.

Unarchive a category

1. Navigate to the Archived () page in the left navigation bar.
2. Locate the category you want to restore. Use the search bar or set the Entity filter to Category to narrow the list.
3. Click the category to open the preview pane and confirm its contents. The preview shows the category tree with the articles inside it.
4. Hover over the category row and click Unarchive. The Confirm unarchive dialog appears.
5. Click Unarchive.

The category returns to its most recent location in the documentation with its previous status intact, along with all the articles inside it. Published articles become available on the knowledge base site again.

For more details on managing archived content, refer to Archive page.

Archive vs. hide vs. delete

Limitations

• Slugs of an archived category and its articles stay reserved and cannot be reused.
• Archived articles are skipped when you clone a category or a workspace.

Best practices

• Review the category contents before archiving: every article inside the category is archived with it. Open the category and check that nothing inside it is still in use.
• Check the Archive page before deleting a parent category: deleting a category permanently removes archived content beneath it, and no warning is shown.
• Archive rather than delete when restructuring: archiving lets you take a section offline and bring it back if the new structure does not work out.
• Use the preview pane to confirm scope: before unarchiving, open the preview to see which articles return with the category.

FAQ