How to Archive Clients via Bulk Actions

The **Archive Clients** bulk action archives every client returned by one saved search, along with that client's related records. Use it to clear finished cases out of your working lists without deleting anything.

### Overview

- **What it is:** An **Action Type** on the **Bulk Actions** page. The app describes it as "Bulk archive existing clients."
- **Why it matters:** Archiving in bulk keeps your **Clients** list focused on current cases, and archived clients stay in your agency's data where you can find and restore them.
- **Who uses it:** Staff assigned a role that includes the **create bulk actions** and **update bulk actions** permissions.
- **Expected outcomes:** Every included client is archived, along with their contacts, cases, events, payments, addresses, bonds, warrants, and tasks. Outbound messages that have not been sent yet are deleted, and you receive an email with a PDF report when the run finishes.

### Prerequisites

- An eCourtDate account signed in to the agency that owns the clients
- A role with the **create bulk actions** permission (to create and run an action) and the **update bulk actions** permission (to save and schedule one)
- The criteria that identify the clients you want to archive, such as a status, a type, a group, or an entry in **Assigned Users**
- An understanding of your agency's **Auto Trash Archived Data** setting in **Admin** > **Settings** > **Data and Retention**, because archived records are trashed that many days after they are archived

### How-To Steps

1. Click **Bulk Actions** in the main navigation.
2. Enter a name in **Action Name** on the **Create Bulk Action** card.
3. Select **Archive Clients** in the **Action Type** dropdown.
4. Click **Create** to open the new action on its own page.
5. Enter a number in **Limit** in the **Search Clients** panel to cap how many clients this run can archive.
6. Apply the filters that describe the clients you want to archive:
   - **Search** for a name, a reference, or other text
   - **Client Status**, **Client Type**, or **Client Aliases**
   - **Assigned Users**, **Assigned Judge**, or **Creator**
   - The client group and organization pills, which switch on and off as you click them
7. Click **Search** to save the action and refresh the preview table.
8. Review the count above the table, which reads as loaded rows out of total matches, such as 25 of 1,240 Clients.
   - Click **Load more** to pull in the next 25 rows
9. Click **CLIENTS CSV** to download the preview as a record of what you are about to archive.
10. Click the green check in the **INCLUDE** column beside any client you want to leave out, which turns it into a red X.
11. Click **Live Run** to archive the included clients now.
12. Click **Schedule Run** instead to run the action later, then set **Scheduled Date** and **Scheduled Time** and click **Schedule Run** to confirm.

### What to Expect

The status badge beside the client count moves from draft to dispatching, then processing, then complete, and the count changes to the number of clients the run processed. A scheduled action is picked up every five minutes, so it starts within a few minutes of the time you set, and it is skipped if its scheduled time passed more than 24 hours ago.

Archiving stamps an archived date on each client and on that client's contacts, cases, events, payments, addresses, bonds, warrants, and tasks. Outbound messages for the client that have not been sent yet are deleted. Clients that are already archived or trashed are skipped, so a second run over the same filters does not process them again.

When the run finishes you receive an email with the subject "Bulk Action: (your action name) is Complete" and a PDF report listing the clients processed, the clients excluded, and the search you used. The archived clients drop off the **Clients** list until you check **Archived** in the **Search Clients** panel there and click **Search**.

### Best Practices

- Click **CLIENTS CSV** before **Live Run** so you keep a list of the clients you are about to archive, including which rows were excluded.
- Set **Limit** on purpose. An empty **Limit** stops the run at 1,000 clients, and **Admin** > **Settings** > **Data and Retention** > **Default Bulk Actions Limit** fills it in for new actions.
- Review the preview carefully, because **Archive Clients** has no simulate mode and **Live Run** starts immediately with no confirmation prompt.
- Click **Save Template** once the filters are right, then start your next archive run from the **Bulk Templates** tab with **Import**.
- Name each action for the criteria you used so the **Bulk Actions** list stays readable months later.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: How many clients does one run archive?**

A: As many as the number in **Limit**, and 1,000 when you leave **Limit** empty. Raise **Limit** or run the action again to reach the rest.

**Q: What happens to the client's events, payments, and scheduled messages?**

A: Events, payments, contacts, cases, addresses, bonds, warrants, and tasks are archived with the client. Outbound messages that have not been sent yet are deleted.

**Q: Can I run the same bulk action twice?**

A: Not with **Live Run**, which disappears once the action has run. Use **Tools** > **Replay** to queue the same action again, or **Tools** > **Duplicate** to open an editable copy.

**Q: How do I find the clients I archived?**

A: Go to **Clients**, check **Archived** in the **Search Clients** panel, and click **Search**. The list then returns only archived clients.

**Q: How do I undo an archive run?**

A: Create a bulk action with the **Restore Clients** type, which adds **Archived From Date** and **Archived To Date** filters so you can target the clients you archived on a given day.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** The run finished, but clients you expected to archive are still active.

**Symptoms:** The client count on the finished action is lower than the total your search returned.

**Solution:**

1. Check **Limit**, which stops the run at 1,000 clients when you leave it empty.
2. Check the **INCLUDE** column for rows you turned to a red X, since excluded clients appear in the PDF report but are never archived.
3. Confirm the rest were not already archived, because the run always skips clients that carry an archived date.

**Issue:** A scheduled run never started.

**Symptoms:** The action keeps a scheduled status badge and the **Live Run** button is no longer shown.

**Solution:**

1. Wait five minutes, which is how often scheduled actions are picked up.
2. Click **Cancel Schedule** to return the action to draft, which brings **Live Run** and **Schedule Run** back.
3. Schedule the action again, and note that a scheduled time more than 24 hours in the past is never picked up.

**Issue:** You archived clients who are still working through active cases.

**Symptoms:** Staff report that clients they are working with are missing from the **Clients** list.

**Solution:**

1. Create a bulk action with the **Restore Clients** type.
2. Set **Archived From Date** and **Archived To Date** to the day of the archive run, then click **Search**.
3. Review the preview and click **Live Run**, then check the restored clients for upcoming events, because a restore does not recreate the messages that were deleted during the archive run.

> **Important:** If you continue to experience issues after following these troubleshooting steps, sign in to eCourtDate and create a ticket by clicking the ticket button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

### Related Articles

- [How Bulk Actions Work](/how-bulk-actions-work)
- [How to Restore Clients via Bulk Actions](/how-to-restore-clients-via-bulk-actions)
- [How to Trash Clients via Bulk Actions](/how-to-trash-clients-via-bulk-actions)
- [How to Manage Clients](/how-to-manage-clients)
- [How to save and reuse bulk action templates](/how-to-save-and-reuse-bulk-action-templates)