---
canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/integrations/search/amplience-search/archive-index/
title: Archive and unarchive search index
description: How to archive and unarchive an Amplience search index, including auto archiving rules that automatically archive unused indexes after one year.
audience: Developer
image: https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/amplience-search-archive-1?w=1200&h=630
image_width: 1200
image_height: 630
date_published: 2023-04-13
date_modified: 2023-09-27
---

# Archive and unarchive search index

You can archive a search index by choosing "Archive" from its contextual menu in the index list. When you archive an index all of the search records will be lost. You can choose to unarchive an archived index, but only the search index and its associated webhooks will be restored.

## Archiving search indexes

![Choosing a search index to archive](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/amplience-search-archive-1?w=1880&fmt=png 'Choosing a search index to archive')

A dialog will be displayed asking you to confirm that you want to move the index to the archive. Enter "ARCHIVE" in the text box to continue.

![You will be asked to confirm that the index should be archived](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/amplience-search-archive-2?w=1880&fmt=png 'You will be asked to confirm that the index should be archived')

The index is now moved to the archive. Note that archiving will remove all the records in the index and these cannot be restored.

## Unarchiving search indexes

When an index has been moved to the archive, you can easily move it back to the main search index window by selecting the index and choosing "Unarchive".

![Unarchiving an index](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/amplience-search-archive-4?w=1880&fmt=png 'Unarchiving an index')

Unarchiving an index will restore the index and its associated webhooks, but not the records the index contained. Content will need to be re-indexed.

You can also delete an index that has been archived.

> **Note: Archiving replicas**
> Note that in order to archive an index that contains replicas, you must first archive the replicas and then archive the primary index. When you unarchive a replica, it will be linked back to its parent.

## Auto archiving

The auto archiving feature runs on all accounts and archives indexes that are not being used. The following rules determine if an index will be moved to the archive:

- Indexes must have had no search operations in the past year
- The last modified date on the index must be greater than one year
- If the index is a primary index it must have no replicas