Why can't I archive a project?

[Mitzy Jaimes]

I am a site administrator and I want to archive the projects we are not using anymore. I Go to  > Projects, click on the dots button of the project and I can only see a project settings option. 

[Andy Heinzer · Accepted solution]

Hi Everyone,

Looks like there is still confusion on this topic.   I will try to explain.   Starting with Jira Software Data Center 7.10.0 (and Jira Service Desk Data Center 3.13), it became possible to archive projects in Jira natively.  Please see Jira Software 7.10 release notes: Project archiving (data center) for details.

The key detail here is that this feature is specific to data center licensed deployments only.  This is not something that you can do with a Jira Server license type.

This feature was rolled out to help address performance issues in Jira, specifically the need for Jira to index and reindex data in projects that you might want to keep data for, but that you know won't be updated.   In cases like that, the Data Center deployments would clearly benefit from this feature the most.  That said there is still an existing feature request for this feature to come to Server license types as well in JRASERVER-67413.

What can also add to this confusion is that there is also an older KB for Jira that discusses archiving a project in https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/archiving-a-project-in-jira-server-950287459.html I will look to add a note on this KB to help avoid confusion on this topic.

However this term of 'archive' in that KB predates the native functionality to do this in Data Center Jira 7.10 and higher versions.   The functionality is different here because in KB guide the issues still get indexed and reindexed by Jira.  So there really is not a performance improvement to following this method as there can be in the native Data Center feature.  It's just utilizing a custom permission scheme to prevent users from making changes to issues in that project.  Ultimately, it's a different concept for the term 'archiving'.

I hope this helps to clarify this specific feature.

Regards,

Andy

[Paul Wright]

Thanks Andy, that certainly adds clarity, and updating the (now) outdated document would be very valuable.

Have a great day.

Regards

Paul

[vanessae_4flyers_com]

I'm a site admin and I have the cloud instance of Jira.  I'd like to archive projects and can see the Archive page.  When I select the ellipsis, I only have options for "Project Settings" and "Move to Trash".  Am I in the wrong place?

[Andy Heinzer]

The original questions was from a Jira Server customer. And the answer on this post is really explaining that this feature was only for Jira Data Center.

For Jira Cloud, project archiving is limited to the Premium plan.  This is explained in Archive a project.  There is not a means to archive a project in Jira Cloud for the Free or Standard plans.  I suspect this is most likely why you do not see this feature in a Cloud site today.

Andy

[Amith Mathur {Appfire}]

Hi @Mitzy Jaimes, 

Archiving a project online means keeping all of the project's issue data in your live Jira instance. There are two ways to archive a project online:

• Hiding a project, where the project will be visible from the Administrator menu but it will not appear in the Browse Projects' list, and no-one will be able to search, view or modify any of the project's issues.
• Making a project 'Read-Only’, where no one will be able to modify the issues. 

You can find all this information here.

If you want to archive a project in Jira Software Data Center, then you will need to click on the three dots and select Archive.

Thanks,
Amith Mathur 

[Niq]

Hi, I know this issue is old but I tried hiding the project as instructed (created a new permission scheme, leaving all permissions empty and then assigning the scheme to projects) but the projects are still showing up in the All Projects list.

[Milton_Plotkin]

I had this same issue. Basically, an admin will still see all the projects in the "All Projects list", but for other users, the projects will be hidden.

[Deleted user]

Hi Champs,

After upgarde jira 7 to 8.20.6 version unable to see before upgarde archive project. Can someone please help me.

[Paul Wright]

Hi Mitzy

Did you get the response you were looking for?

Like you, I don't have the 3 dots and want to archive using the suggested feature.

The answer(s) below suggest this isn't available in some versions. :(

I'm version 7.13 (server)

Thank you

Paul

[Courtney_Zorio]

I have the same problem. 

[Alexey Matveev]

Archiving is only available for Jira Software Data Center and Jira Service Desk Data Center

[Alexey Matveev]

Hello,

What is your Jira version?