---
title: Message archiving
updatedAt: 2026-09-06T11:12:34.150Z
---

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.watchers.io/llms.txt

# Message archiving

You can enable or disable automatic message archiving and set how long before messages are archived.

Section: Admin panel → Settings → Functional settings

<img src="https://docs-assets.watchers.io/docs/readme/30b65b06029660ce23f79cf45fb54c85c0b05c308890eab03b061073f3e7e2bf-message_arch_settings.png" alt="" style="width:80%" class="img-center">

### Purpose

In this section, you can enable or disable the automatic archiving of messages and define the time period after which messages will be archived.

### Options

1. **Enable archiving**
   * **On** – The system automatically archives messages that are older than the specified number of days.
   * **Off** – The system does not archive messages automatically.

2. **Archiving period (days)**
   * A numeric field where you specify the number of days. Messages older than this value will be moved to the archive (if archiving is enabled).

### How It Works

* **Dynamic application of settings**\
  When you change the archiving period or switch archiving on/off, the new settings only apply to messages that have not yet been archived.

* **Example**
  * If a message was sent 179 days ago and you **disable** archiving today, that message will not be archived (it hasn't hit 180 days yet, and archiving is off).
  * If a message was already archived (for example, at 181 days), changing the settings **will not** restore it to the active message list. There is no way to automatically unarchive previously archived messages.

Once a message is archived, it remains archived. Adjusting the archive settings affects only future behavior for messages that have yet to meet the archiving threshold.