Definition
An Archived Article in Salesforce Knowledge is a published Knowledge article that has been moved to an archived state. Archived articles are no longer visible to users through search or browsing in the Knowledge base, but they are retained in the system for reference and can be restored to draft or published status if needed.
Real-World Example
a service operations lead at ShieldGuard Security uses Archived Article to deliver consistent, high-quality support across all customer channels. Archived Article ensures that every inquiry follows the same process, agents have access to relevant customer history, and managers can track performance metrics in real time.
Why Archived Article Matters
In Salesforce Knowledge, every article has a state in its publishing lifecycle: draft, published, or archived. Archiving a published article removes it from search results and from the Knowledge base that agents and customers browse, but the article itself is preserved in the system. An archived article can be restored to draft or back to published status without losing its content, version history, or translations, which makes archiving safer than outright deletion for content that may need to come back.
Teams typically archive articles when the product or process they describe is no longer relevant, when the information has been superseded by a newer article, or when an older version of an article should stop being visible but shouldn't be lost entirely. Mature Knowledge programs include regular archive audits to keep the active knowledge base trim, since an overgrown Knowledge base with stale articles degrades search quality for everyone.
How Organizations Use Archived Article
- •ShieldGuard Security — Archives old product manuals when a new product version ships, keeping the original articles available for historical reference. If a customer still has the old version and asks a question, agents can find the archived article by searching with filters turned on.
- •Oceanic Corp — Runs a quarterly archive audit to review articles with low view counts or no updates in more than a year. Any article that no longer reflects current policy is archived, which keeps the active knowledge base relevant and fast to search.
- •Cyberdyne Co — Archives rather than deletes retired articles so that agents reviewing old Cases can still see the article that was linked at the time. This preserves the history of what agents were told to do when handling those Cases.