How do I archive records without deleting them?

Hey, @amandaweinraub 

Archiving is not a native Airtable feature unfortunately. However you can still so something similar:

Keep everything in the same table and just “hide” archives from day to day work using views (or pages on interfaces), a simple field, and filters like this: 

1) Add an “Archive” flag 
- Add a new field called “Archived” as a checkbox (unchecked by default). 

2) Create your working and archive views 
- Working view: Create a Grid view filtered to “Archived is not checked”. This is where you work on your day to day. 
- Archive view: Duplicate that view and change the filter to “Archived is checked”. This is where things go when you do not want to see them all the time but still need access. 

You can read more about views here: Airtable’s Views: A Quick Guide 

3) Actually archiving 
- When you are done with a record, just change its status to “Archived” or tick the checkbox. It disappears from your main working view but still exists, fully searchable and restorable any time through the Archive view or a temporary “All records” view. 
- If you want to get fancy, you can add an “Archived On” Last Modified Date field.

Having said that, this DOES NOT remove the record from your base and therefore still counts to your record count limit. If you want to remove them from the base you’d need to set up a script to push it to a different base, or you can manually export to csv. However, retrieveing these is obviously more complex than the checkbox solution.

Does this make sense?

Happy to help :D 
Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation 
YouTube Channel

I just do a copy base and than rename it as an archive and remove what I want archived from the original.  

​@amandaweinraub 

1. As ​@Mike_AutomaticN mentioned above, your #1 best bet for doing this is to simply flag your records as archived, and then work in an interface or view that hides your archived records.
   
   That would enable you to archive you records while still taking advantage of all the features that you receive when working with a database app like Airtable.

However, if you are actually looking to “backup” your records outside of Airtable, then these are your options:

2. You can use one of these automated backup solutions for Airtable:
   On2Air Backups, ProBackups, or CSV Getter.
    
3. You can create your own custom automations for this by using Make’s brand new, dedicated Excel file creation tool. This new tool is super easy to setup, because all you have to do is search for the Airtable records that you want to export from a table, and then this tool automatically merges together the Airtable records from that table into one Excel file.
    
4. You can create your own custom automations for this by using Make’s CSV integrations, Make’s standard/basic Excel integrations, or Make’s Google Sheets integrations.

Regarding #3 and #4 above:

I demonstrate how to export CSV files out of Airtable using Make on this Airtable podcast episode. This video will give you a step-by-step walkthrough that can help you understand how to do either #2 or #3 above.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread. For example, here is one of the ways that you could instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable. 

I also give live demonstrations of how to use Make in many of my Airtable podcast appearances. For example, in this video, I show how to work with Airtable arrays in Make.

Hope this helps!

If you have a budget and you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this or anything else that is Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

Hi Amanda!

@Mike_AutomaticN and @ScottWorld have given some great foundational advice. However, if you want a professional setup that keeps your Main Base fast (by keeping record counts low) while still having your archived data fully accessible and searchable within Airtable, I recommend the "Archive Base" Sync method.

Here is the 3-step setup:

1. Create an "Archive" Base Create a completely new, empty base called "[Project Name] - Archives".

2. Set up a Verified Sync In your Main Base, create a view called "Ready to Archive" filtered to your specific criteria (e.g., Status is 'Complete' or Archive Checkbox is checked).

• Click 'Share and sync' on that view.

• In your new Archive Base, click 'Add or import' -> 'Airtable Base' and paste that link.

3. The "Cold Storage" Workflow Once the records are synced to your Archive Base, you can occasionally "hard-delete" them from the Main Base to save on record limits. Because the Archive Base is a separate file, you can keep years of history there without it slowing down your daily workspace.

Why this is the "MVP" choice:

• Performance: It keeps your primary base "lean" and fast.

• Security: You can give different permissions to the Archive Base (e.g., Read-only).

• Native: No third-party tools (like Make or Zapier) are required!

Hope this helps you scale your data management!