How to archive, restore or delete a project

When a project is finished, you put it away from its ⋯ menu in Work › Departments. Archive project hides it and keeps everything in it. Delete project removes it for good, after moving its work into another project.

An admin brings an archived project back from Settings › Departments. For what projects are, see What are projects and campaigns?.

Before you start

Archiving and deleting a project needs the Edit, archive and delete projects row on Settings › Permissions, checked in the project's own department. Leads have it by default, and admins can do it in any department. The ⋯ button only appears for people who hold it.

Restoring a project happens in Settings, which only admins can open.

Should you archive or delete?

Archive almost always. An archived project keeps its tasks, its planned items and its history, and an admin can bring it back exactly as it was.

Delete when the project should never have existed, such as a duplicate made by mistake.

Fairgreen Golf Co. archives the Autumn lookbook shoot once the photos are live. When somebody creates a second "Autumn drop emails" project by accident, a lead deletes it and moves its three tasks into the real one.

How do you archive a project?

1. Find Departments under Work in the menu, and press the chevron beside the project's department to fold its projects open.
2. Rest the mouse on the project and press the ⋯ button at the end of its row.
3. Choose Archive project.

It happens straight away, with no confirmation. The project disappears from the menu and from every task list. If you had the project open, Tideswell takes you to Work › Tasks.

How do you bring an archived project back?

Go to Settings › Departments and scroll to Archived projects. Each archived project is listed with its department, an Archived badge, and two buttons.

Press Restore. The project goes back exactly where it was, with its tasks. When nothing is archived, the section reads "Nothing archived."

How do you delete a project?

1. Open the project's ⋯ menu in Work › Departments and choose Delete project. For an archived project, press Delete on its row in Settings › Departments › Archived projects instead.
2. The dialog checks what the project still holds. If it holds tasks, recurring tasks or planning items, open Move the work to… and pick the project that takes them over.
3. Press Delete permanently.

Make sure this is the project you mean before you press Delete permanently, because the delete cannot be undone. When you might want the project again, archive it instead.

What happens to the work inside?

None of it is lost. Its tasks, including archived ones, its recurring tasks and its planning items all move to the project you picked. The dialog counts them first, for example "9 tasks (plus 33 archived)".

The work can only move to another project in the same department that is not archived. If the department has no other project, create one first, or archive this project instead.

Milestones are the one thing that does not move. The dialog lists them under Deleted with it, not moved, because a milestone is a checkpoint inside one project. Note any dates you still need before you delete, and add them to the new project as described in How to add and reschedule milestones.