#83 - 🔒 What Happens When You Archive a Page in Confluence?

published on July 24, 2025 3 minutes

This issue explores how and when to archive Confluence pages, and introduces dynamic cards’ new AI-generated summaries for quick insights.

Come Back!

One moment, you think it’s a good idea to let go. The lifeboats drift off, the pages get archived.

Clean slate. Feels right.

But then it hits you: Bad call.

The good news?

Just like Rose in Titanic, we have the power to bring them back.

🗃️ To Archive or Not to Archive?

That is the question—especially when your Confluence space starts feeling more like a content graveyard than a living knowledge base.

Every Confluence space eventually hits that point: the content tree is overwhelming, search turns up things you didn’t even remember creating, and people start asking, “Is this still up to date?” Archiving now is a favor to your future self, and your whole team.

It helps to structure your knowledge for long term success.

But before you start sending pages off into quiet retirement, let’s clear something up: Not everyone can archive pages; and that’s a good thing.

In Confluence Cloud, archiving is a controlled power, not a free-for-all.

Space admins can archive any page in the space
Users with the “Archive space” permission can do the same
Regular users can only archive pages they’ve created

If you’re on Premium or Enterprise, space admins also get access to bulk archive features (up to 500 pages at a time) within the Content Manager. It's spring-cleaning at scale.

🧊 What Happens When You Archive a Page?

Archiving in Confluence is a bit like moving something into storage: it’s out of sight, but still neatly packed away in case you need it again. Technically speaking:

📂 The page is moved to the Archived Pages section of the space

🧭 It disappears from the content tree and default search results

🔐 Permissions stay the same—if someone had access before, they still do now

🔗 Links to the page still work—so nothing breaks

🧾 Version history, comments, and labels are all preserved

It’s a lightweight way to retire content that’s no longer active without losing its context or cluttering up your workspace.

🧹 Archive before You Delete

Archiving is like pressing “pause” on a page. It removes it from search and the page tree but preserves everything, version history, comments, labels, permissions without deleting a thing. Your content remains intact and recoverable.

Deleting? That’s final. You’re erasing a page (or space) permanently. Unless you set up backups or retain copies, there’s no turning back. Deletion carries risk; archiving keeps history safe.

Only delete when you’re absolutely certain the content has no future value (for instance, test pages, duplicates, or content created in error).

But 99% of the time, archiving is your best friend. Why risk losing important history when you can simply tuck it away?

And when you do need to revive something:

Go to Space Settings → Content Tools → Archive
Find the page in the list
Click Restore

Like calling the lifeboats back to you, your page instantly rejoins the content tree.

Never Lost at Sea

A little mishap like accidentally archiving a page can happen faster than you think, but you don’t need to panic. In Confluence, you can easily bring any archived page back to life. Every comment, label, and version remains intact.

Think of your archived pages as lifeboats that truly return when you call them. So go ahead and clear out the clutter, knowing your content is safe in storage and just a few clicks away from coming back on deck whenever you need it.

Confluence News

📊 Improved Database Creation

The database-creation screen now has separate Templates and Import tabs, so you can grab one of 11+ ready-made layouts or bring in your own data in a flash. Spend less time setting up and more time using your database.

🤖 AI Descriptions on Dynamic Cards

Dynamic cards in Company Hub and Confluence now come with AI-generated summaries by default, giving you an at-a-glance snapshot of content. Want to go custom? Just toggle off the description in the card’s settings.