Archive contacts in ActiveCampaign

Archiving contacts helps you manage your contacts that you’re not planning to engage with in the near future without losing contact data. Archived contacts do not count toward your contact limit and are kept for up to one year in case you need to restore them. 

Take note

• Only Admin users can archive, restore, or delete contacts
• Archived contacts are kept as “Read Only.” This means you cannot send marketing emails, WhatsApp, or SMS messages to them, or edit them
• You must wait at least 30 days after archiving a contact before you can manually restore them
• Archiving maintains all historical data, such as email opens, clicks, purchases, and tags for one year before automatic deletion
• If you need to delete contacts sooner, learn how to delete contacts
• Once archived, contacts do not count against your contact limit

Understanding contact list statuses

To understand the value of archiving, it helps to know how we define different contact list types. Learn more about contact list statuses.

How to archive contacts

You can archive contacts individually or in bulk from the Contact Overview page or individually from the Contact Record. Archiving a contact immediately removes them from the active contact count.

Archive contacts from the Contact Overview page:

1. Click Contacts on the left menu.
2. From the Contact Overview page, filter and select the contact(s) you wish to archive from the list view.
3. Click “Archive.”
4. Review the confirmation prompt that informs you of the conditions. Contacts will not be able to:
   • Receive marketing emails or automations
   • Be added to campaigns or new automations
   • Have their contact details edited
5. Click the “I understand” check box and the “Archive” button to agree to the changes and archive.
   • A success message will confirm the operation once completed.

Archive contacts from the Contact Record:

1. Click Contacts on the left menu.
2. Click the name of the contact to open the Contact Record.
3. Click the dropdown next to the button at the top right of the record.
4. Click “Archive.”
5. Review the confirmation prompt that informs you of the conditions. Contacts will not be able to:
   • Receive marketing emails or automations
   • Be added to campaigns or new automations
   • Have their contact details edited
6. Click the “I understand” check box and the “Archive” button to agree to the changes and archive.
   • A success message will confirm the operation once completed.

View archived contacts

Once contacts are archived, you can view them on a dedicated list separate from your active contacts. From this list, you can manage restoration and deletion.

1. Click Contacts on the left menu.
2. From the Contacts Overview, click the three dots button in the top right corner.
3. Click “View archived contacts.”

Restore archived contacts

Restoring a contact adds them back to your active contact limit and counts them against your active billing limit immediately. You can only restore contacts that have been archived for over 30 days. Learn how to restore archived contacts.

Delete archived contacts

You can delete archived contacts from the archived contacts list. This removes them and all associated data from your account. Deleting a contact is a permanent action that cannot be undone. Learn how to delete a contact.