Archive Files and Folders

Learn about archiving files or folders.

The archive feature in Autodesk Vault Professional allows administrators to move files and folders to a separate storage location for long-term retention and backup. It provides flexible backup and restoration options for archive file stores. A new Archive Status property is introduced for folders and files.

Enabling Archiving

Administrators can enable the archiving feature. The enable action opens a dialog that requests for the 'Archived File Store' path. Once enabled, the archive feature cannot be disabled.

Archiving Files and Folders

Follow these steps to archive files and folders in Autodesk Vault Professional:

In the Vault client, navigate to the files or folders you want to archive.
Select one or multiple files or folders.
Right-click on the selected items and choose Archive.

You can access archive-related commands in the Edit menu as well.

Archive processing

Once archiving is initiated, the "Archive Status" of the files changes to "To Be Archived." If the archive command is canceled before execution, the status reverts to "None," and the files remain in the production file store. During the archive server task, files marked "To Be Archived" are moved to the Archive File Store, and their "Archive Status" updates to "Archived."

Archiving Folders vs. Files

When a folder is archived, its Archive Status property is updated, but the properties of its contents remain unchanged. The folder’s contents are archived and moved from the production file store to the archive file store when the archive server task runs.
Archiving Design Files

When archiving a design file, its associated DWF and SVF files are also archived and removed from the production file store.

File Archive Status and Behavior

Files can have an Archive Status of "None", "To Be Archived", "Archived", or "Historically Archived", while folders can have a status of "None" or "To Be Archived". The historical file versions track their archive state using the 'Archive Status (Historical)' property for all versions. Note that actions such as category changes, state changes, copy to replace, or revision changes increase the version number but do not create a new physical file. Changes to folder properties do not impact file properties.

When new file versions are created, whether through content edits or property changes, these new versions will remain in the production filestore and will not be automatically archived. Users must manually archive these new versions if they want them stored in the archive filestore.

Search Behavior

Advanced search is supported for archive related properties. Properties available for searching includes: • Archive Status • Archive Status (Historical)

Note: Archived files and folders are not included in basic search results, including searching by using archive status values such as 'Archived', 'To Be Archived', and 'Historically Archived'.

Backup, Restore, and Replication Considerations

The backup process is the same as described in the Back up or Restore a Vault section, but administrators can choose whether to include the archive file store in backups, along with the production file stores.

The restore process keeps archived files separate from the production file store. If the backup includes the archive file store, it will be restored accordingly. During the restore action, users can specify the location for the archive file store. For more information, see Back up or Restore a Vault.

Enable Archive command is only available in Publisher. The file store replication only replicates production file stores. For more information about replicating files, see Replication of files and folders.