Archive and dropped · On My Radar

Several different things sound like "getting rid of" a blip, and only one of them is permanent. After reading this page you can tell Dropped, Done, archived and deleted apart, restore what you need, and know who may delete.

The short version

Dropped is a decision you can undo. The blip stays on its radar. On a radar with lanes it may move to the lane that matches the state.
Done is a decision too: the work is finished. It also stays on its radar, in the same way.
Archived happens by itself, but only on Kanban, reading list and helpdesk radars. A finished blip that nothing has touched for a while stops being loaded on its radar. It is still searchable.
Deleted is permanent. There is no trash and no undo.

Done and Dropped

Every blip has one of five states: Inbox, Active, Later, Done and Dropped. Done means finished. Dropped means you decided not to do it.

Where you set the state depends on the radar's template.

On a Stream, use the state menu on the card, with the five states. The filter row above the list has a chip for each state with a count, so you can see only Dropped blips.
On templates with lanes, you move the blip between lanes, and each lane implies a state. See Templates and lanes. For example, on a reading list "Finished" is Done and "Abandoned" is Dropped. On a decision log "Accepted" and "Superseded" are Done and "Rejected" is Dropped. On a helpdesk "Resolved" is Done and "Declined" is Dropped. The standard Kanban board has a "Done" lane but no lane for Dropped.
On a phone, you can swipe a card sideways on a Stream, reading list or the drop box, unless the drop box is set to Kanban. One direction moves it along (for example "Done" or "Finished"), the other puts it off: first "Later", then "Drop". A reading list has no Later lane, so its card goes straight to "Abandoned". A toast confirms and offers "Undo". Boards and decision logs do not use swipes, and everything a swipe does is also available from the card's own controls.

Nothing is removed when you mark a blip Done or Dropped. Putting it off once and then again is how an idea slides from Later to Dropped.

Bring it back

Set the state or lane back to something active. Moving along from a finished place reopens the blip, back to the working state or the first working lane (such as "In progress" or "Reading"), not back to the Inbox. After a swipe, the "Undo" button on the toast puts the blip back exactly where it was.

The archive: finished work that ages out

On some radars, finished blips eventually leave the main view so the board does not grow forever. This is called the archive. It is computed, not stored, and it works like this.

A blip counts as archived when all of these are true:

Its state is Done or Dropped. Unfinished work never ages out, however old it is.
The radar's template ages out blips. These are Kanban, Reading list and Helpdesk. Other templates never archive. Which templates you can use also depends on your plan.
The radar's archive setting is on.
Nothing has happened to the blip for that long. The clock is the later of its last edit, move to another lane, and its newest comment.

Because the clock is activity, editing it, moving it to another lane or adding a comment brings it back automatically. Reactions and edits to an existing comment do not count.

Change how long it takes

The window is set per radar. Open the radar's settings, find "Behaviour", and use "Archive finished blips". The choices are:

Never
After 1 week
After 2 weeks
After 30 days, the default
After 2 months
After 3 months
After 6 months
After a year

The note beside it says: nothing is deleted, the lane header says how many went and links to them, commenting or editing one brings it back, and widening the window returns every one of them. Click "Save changes".

See what has aged out

On a board, a lane header shows a link such as "· 12 archived" next to the lane name.
Above the board or list, a line reads "12 finished blips have aged out." with the link "Open the archive →".
Both open the Search screen with in: set to that radar and is:archived. See Search syntax.

A radar's own screen hides archived blips, but search includes them by default and tags them "archived". Use is:live to leave them out. Public radar pages never show archived blips.

Archived radars and topics

Radars and topics also have an archived flag that hides them from lists. It is a separate thing from a blip aging out. The web app has no button for it. An agent can set it with update_radar or update_topic, and can list archived items by asking for them. While a radar is archived, personal reminders on its blips pause.

Delete: the permanent one

A blip. Use the trash button, labelled "Delete", on the card. A dialog asks "Delete this blip?" and says "This removes the blip and anything attached to it. It cannot be undone." It adds how many comments go with it. Choose "Delete blip". The blip, its comments and its attachments are removed. Anyone who can edit the radar can delete its blips.
Some blips are protected. On an Architecture radar, a boundary that contracts still use cannot be deleted until its contracts are deleted or pointed elsewhere. A charter page that carries amendments, and a decision that an amendment names, cannot be deleted either.
A radar. Open the radar's settings and use "Delete radar". You must type the radar's name to confirm. Only an owner of the radar can do it. Every blip in it goes with it. The Drop box cannot be deleted. It is your permanent inbox, so move or delete its blips one at a time.
A smart radar. Deleting one removes only the saved search. Every blip it gathered stays on its own radar.
A comment. Its author, or the radar's owner, can delete it.

There is no recycle bin and the web app has no restore for deleted blips or radars. When you are unsure, mark the blip Dropped instead.

Automatic cleanup

Blips are never deleted automatically, and neither Done nor Dropped nor the archive removes anything. The only routine cleanup is notifications: lines you have read are removed 60 days after you read them. See Notifications.

Bulk actions

The web app has no multi-select for blips. You change state, move or delete them one at a time. Marking notifications read in bulk is the only bulk action, with "Mark all read". An agent can sort a messy radar for you by updating blips one by one, and it can delete them, but an agent that deletes a radar must be given the radar's name. See MCP reference.