Archive and restore assets

Archiving removes an asset from the active knowledge base without deleting it permanently. The asset keeps its identifier, properties, history, access domains, and references until you restore or permanently delete it. Archives are managed separately for each asset type from its inventory.

Understand the lifecycle

An asset moves through three possible states.

State	Meaning	Available actions
Active	The asset appears in the inventory and can contribute to visualizations	Edit or archive
Archived	The asset is retained outside the active inventory	Read, restore, or permanently delete
Permanently deleted	The asset and its retained data are removed	No recovery

Archiving is the normal removal action. Permanent deletion is a separate action that is only available after archiving.

Required rights

Archives use the same asset-type and access-domain rules as active assets. When several role and domain assignments match, the highest effective asset right applies.

Action	Minimum user type	Required asset right
Open the archives control	Editor	Archived results remain filtered by view_asset
Archive an asset	Editor	delete_asset
Restore an asset	Editor	edit_asset
Permanently delete an asset	Editor	delete_asset

The right is evaluated for the asset type and the access domains carried by each asset. For assets without an access domain, Boldo uses the No access domain system row.

On plans without granular governance, the global user type controls these actions. Editors, administrators, and owners receive the corresponding asset management access.

For the complete permission model, read Understand the access model.

Archive assets

You can archive one asset from its row menu or from its edit dialog.

1. Open Inventories and select the asset type
2. Open the asset's Actions menu, or open its edit dialog
3. From the Actions menu, select Delete; in the edit dialog, click the trash-can (Delete) icon in the footer
4. Review any dashboard usage warning
5. Confirm

Despite the Delete label, this first action moves the asset to the archives. It does not permanently delete it.

To archive several assets:

1. Use the table display
2. Activate multiple selection
3. Select the assets
4. Click Delete in the selection bar
5. Review the assets that your rights allow you to archive
6. Confirm

Assets for which you lack delete_asset remain active and appear separately in the confirmation dialog.

Archiving records the operation in the asset history and stores the archive date. It also deactivates the asset's active relationships. These relationships remain retained for a possible restoration.

After the confirmation dialog has removed assets that your rights do not allow you to archive, the submitted bulk operation is all-or-nothing. If one submitted asset fails, none of them are archived. The same transactional behavior applies to bulk restoration and bulk permanent deletion.

Browse archived assets

Archives are available inside each asset-type inventory. There is no single archive page combining every asset type.

1. Open Inventories and select an asset type
2. Click View archives in the table toolbar
3. Click the same control again to return to active assets

The archived list keeps the current view tools. You can search, filter, sort, group, change visible fields, and switch display mode. The table also adds an Archived on column and an equivalent sort option.

Use the normal filters to isolate archived assets by properties, domains, creation or update dates, and other available fields. The archive date is available as a table column and sort option, but not as a filter. Search applies only to the archived assets of the current asset type. The results always respect your effective view_asset rights and access domains.

Archived assets are read-only. Cell editing, conversion to a diagram, creation, and regular update actions are unavailable in archive mode. Open the asset preview or its 360 page to review its information, visible relationships, diagrams, rights, history, and comments.

The archived 360 page displays retained relationships when the other endpoint is active. A relationship between two archived assets remains stored, but it may not appear on either archived 360 page until one endpoint is restored.

Restore assets

Restoration reactivates the same asset. It keeps the asset's identifier, properties, history, domains, and references.

To restore one asset:

1. Open its archived inventory
2. Open the row's Actions menu
3. Select Restore
4. Confirm

You can also open the archived asset's 360 page and click Restore in the header.

To restore several assets:

1. Use the archived table display
2. Activate multiple selection
3. Select the assets
4. Click Restore
5. Review the eligible and skipped assets
6. Confirm

Assets for which you lack edit_asset are skipped. After restoration, the other assets leave the archived list and return to their active inventory. The restoration is recorded in each asset's history.

Relationships deactivated by archiving are restored when both endpoint assets are active. If the other endpoint remains archived, the relationship stays inactive until that asset is restored. A relationship removed manually before archiving is not recreated.

Effects on visualizations

Archiving retains references so that restoration can put the same asset back into its previous contexts.

Content	While archived	After restoration
Inventory, search, and saved views	The asset leaves active results and global search	It returns when it matches the current filters
Charts and nested maps	The asset no longer contributes to calculations or traversals	It contributes again when it matches their rules
Diagrams	The node stays in place and appears inactive	The same node becomes active again
Dashboards	A direct asset widget reports that the asset is deleted	The widget displays the asset again
Process flows	A referenced asset remains visible as inactive; an archived process cannot be edited	A restored reference appears active again; restoring the process re-enables editing when flow rights allow
Share links	The archived asset is unavailable through its public link	An existing link can resolve the asset again

Diagram position, size, appearance, and asset link are preserved during archiving. Restoration therefore does not create a new node or require manual placement.

Views, charts, and nested maps are calculated from active knowledge-base data. Restoring an asset does not force it into their results: their filters, relationship paths, and access rules still apply.

Permanently delete assets

Permanent deletion removes the archived asset and prevents any later restoration. An active asset must always be archived first.

To permanently delete one asset:

1. Open the archived inventory or archived asset page
2. Select Delete permanently from the row's Actions menu, or click it in the page header
3. Check the irreversible-action acknowledgement
4. Confirm

For several assets, activate multiple selection in the archived table, select the rows, then click Delete permanently. The confirmation separates assets you can delete from assets skipped because of insufficient rights.

Permanent deletion

This action removes the asset, its history, comments, and remaining relationships. It cannot be undone.

Permanent deletion also removes the asset from its previous contexts:

• direct asset widgets in dashboards lose their source
• diagram nodes become unlinked placeholders for the asset type
• relationship-backed diagram edges become visual arrows when possible
• process-flow references become asset-type placeholders
• if the deleted asset owns a process flow, its steps are deleted
• public links to the asset stop working permanently

Use permanent deletion only when retention and restoration are no longer required.

Deleting an asset type

Deleting an asset type from the metamodel bypasses this archive lifecycle. It permanently removes every active and archived asset of that type, together with their dependent data.

API behavior

In the V1 API, DELETE /api/v1/assets/{id} archives the asset. It does not permanently delete it.

The V1 API does not expose asset restoration or permanent asset deletion. Use the archive interface for those actions.

Resolve common issues

If an expected action is missing or disabled, first check the global user type, then the effective right for the asset's type and domains.

• Archives control missing: your global type is below Editor
• Archived asset missing: your roles do not grant view_asset on one of its access domains
• Restore unavailable: you do not have edit_asset
• Permanent deletion unavailable: you do not have delete_asset, or the asset is still active
• Relationship still inactive: its other endpoint is archived, or the relationship was removed before archiving
• Restored asset absent from a view: it no longer matches the view's current filters or access rules