If you have inactive contact records that you don't want to delete, but don't want to have counted against your database limit, you can archive them. Archived contacts are automatically excluded from email blasts, including automatic event notices. However, an archived contact is automatically restored when he or she logs in to your Wild Apricot site.
Archiving is the first step in deleting – permanently removing – a contact from your database. An archived record – unlike a deleted one – can be restored at a later date. A record can be archived and restored as many times as needed without any loss of data.
Contact records can be archived one at a time or in bulk, either from your contact list or using Wild Apricot's import and export options. For more information, see Deleting and archiving contacts.
You can also suspend a contact. Suspending a contact strips them of membership so they become a non-member contact. For more information, see Suspending a membership.
Differences between archived and active records
There are several differences between how archived and active records are treated in Wild Apricot.
Archived records |
Active records |
|
|---|---|---|
Displayed in unfiltered contact list |
No |
Yes |
Counts towards contact database limit? |
No |
Yes |
Automatically excluded from email blasts? |
Yes |
No |
Receive automatic event notices? |
No |
Yes |
Record can be modified? |
No |
Yes |
Record can be deleted? |
Yes |
No |
Viewing archived records
Normally, archived records do not appear in your contact list. To view a list of archived records, go to the simple search page in the Contacts module and select the Archived filter.
You can also use an advanced search to search for archived contacts. When you add Contact properties to your search criteria, you can limit the search to archived contacts, and further limit the search to archived members.
To view the archived record, click it within the search results.
Restoring archived records
Once a contact record has been archived, the Archive button on the contact details is replaced by a Restore from archive button.
Clicking the Restore from archive button will restore the contact record from archived to active status.
You can also restore archived records in bulk using Wild Apricot's exporting and importing functions. Within the spreadsheet, set the Archived column to No. If you want to restore their membership as well, set the Membership enabled column to Yes.
Archived contacts are automatically restored when they log in to your Wild Apricot site, register for an event, apply for membership, make a donation, or subscribe to a forum or forum topic. If the contact is a member, their membership will be restored in Lapsed status.
Archived contacts are not automatically restored if they pay an invoice without logging in, by clicking the link in the invoice email.
