How do I archive old Notion content?

Archiving old Notion content is essential for maintaining organized workspaces while preserving important information you might need later. Notion doesn't have a dedicated "archive" button like email clients, but there are several effective strategies you can use to manage outdated content.

The most straightforward approach is creating a dedicated archive section within your workspace. Set up a parent page called "Archive" and move outdated pages there by dragging and dropping them in your sidebar. This keeps old content accessible but out of your active workspace. You can organize archived content by date, project, or category to make retrieval easier when needed.

For database content, Notion's filtering and sorting capabilities work excellently for archiving. Add a status property with options like "Active," "Completed," and "Archived," then filter your main views to hide archived items. This approach maintains all your data relationships while keeping current information visible. You can also use date properties to automatically filter out content older than a specific timeframe.

Another effective method involves using Notion's page permissions. Move old content to a separate section and restrict access to reduce clutter while maintaining the ability to reference it when necessary. This works particularly well for team workspaces where you want to limit what members see daily.

For content you rarely need but want to preserve, consider exporting pages as PDF or Markdown files to your computer or cloud storage. This creates a backup while allowing you to delete the Notion pages entirely, freeing up space and reducing workspace complexity.

The main advantage of keeping archives within Notion is maintaining searchability and link relationships. However, this can slow down your workspace if you accumulate too much content. External archiving offers better performance but loses Notion's powerful search and linking features.

Regularly review your archive strategy to ensure it meets your needs. What works for personal use might not scale for team environments. Consider your team's workflow, how often you reference old content, and whether maintaining historical data is critical for your work. The key is finding a balance between accessibility and workspace cleanliness that supports your productivity without creating unnecessary complexity.