How to Archive a Slack Channel, With Photos

Key Points

• Archiving Slack messages helps to free up space in a channel while keeping important conversations safe and easily accessible.
• Archiving Slack channels closes new activities, but conversations, files, messages, and other data remain in the channel.
• Messages and files in archived channels are searchable and viewable whenever needed.
• Any member can archive a Slack channel unless restricted by the admin.

Slack is an excellent tool used by organizations and teams to facilitate communication. The tool allows users to create channels within which all the team members communicate. These channels help keep conversations organized and let users quickly find the information they need.

However, sometimes a channel may become redundant or have outlived its purpose. When this happens, it’s important to archive the channel so that it is not cluttering or distracting other team members. An archived channel will retain message history but will no longer appear in the list of active channels.

Also, messages in archived channels remain searchable, though they cannot be modified. Read on to learn how to archive a Slack channel using a desktop, iOS, or Android device in this step-by-step guide.

3 Steps on How to Archive a Slack Channel on Desktop

If the device you are using is a desktop or laptop computer, follow these steps.

Step 1: Open the Channel

Open the Slack application and go to the channel you wish to archive. You’ll see the list of slack channels on the left sidebar of the screen below the Slack workspace name. Select the channel you want to archive.

Step 2: Click the Channel Settings Button

Selecting the channel will open a conversation window. At the top of the page, you’ll see the channel’s name with a hashtag before the name. Click the channel name, and a pop-up will appear on the screen.

You’ll see several options on the page, including About, Members, Integrations, and Settings. Click Settings to open the channel settings page.

Step 3: Archive the Channel

The settings tab gives you options, including changing the channel’s name and starting huddles for members. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see “Archive Channel for Everyone,” and click it.

A confirmation window with a message will appear on the screen, stating all you need to know when you archive a channel. We’ll cover that in the sections that follow. Click Cancel if you don’t wish to continue or confirm to archive the channel.

Click the video below for a tutorial that walks you through the steps:

3 Steps on How to Archive a Slack Channel on Android

Archiving a Slack channel on an Android device is pretty straightforward. These three steps detail everything you need to know.

Step 1: Open the Channel on Your Android Device

Launch the Slack application on your android device. Once it’s open, select the Slack group with the channel you want to archive. Under the group, you see several channels you belong to. Select the one you want to archive.

Step 2: Open the Channel Conversation Page

Once you’ve selected the channel you want to archive, it will bring you to a page with several options; for instance, if you want to add more people to the channel, add a description, or add Slack with Connect.

This page contains updates about the channel. It’s also where you can type messages to channel members.

Step 3: Archive the Channel

Above the page, you’ll see the channel name beginning with a hashtag symbol. Tap on the channel name to open a page with more options like Add People, Huddle, and Search.

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and under settings, you’ll see the option to Leave Channel or Archive. Click the Archive Channel option.

A pop-up will appear on the screen to confirm if you want to archive the channel. Select Archive to complete the mission and Cancel if you wish to do otherwise.

2 Steps on How to Archive Slack Channel on iOS

Archiving a Slack channel on iOS is slightly different from Android. Below are the steps to follow.

Step 1: Open the Slack Channel

Launch Slack on your iOS device and open the channel. Once the page opens, you’ll see the channel name beginning with a hashtag symbol. Click it.

Step 2: Archive Channel

Once the page is open, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Here, you’ll see three dots, then “Additional Options.” Click Archive under the additional options. It’s in red text with a bin icon next to it. A pop-up will appear for you not either cancel the process or confirm your actions to archive the channel. Click archive to confirm.

If you don’t have administrative privileges to archive a channel, the red “Archive” text with a bin next to it won’t appear. Slack did so to ensure that no one archives channels without permission.

What Happens When You Archive a Slack Channel?

A Slack channel contains all the conversations, updates, and notifications. Once you archive a channel, Slack stores the data but removes it from view on the main page. However, there’s more to archiving than just that.

Therefore, before you click Archive as the final step, you should know the following:

1. No one can post messages or upload files to the archived channel. That’s just about all the activities that happen in a Slack channel.
2. Individuals from other organizations, companies, or institutions will be removed from the channel. However, when they search for it, the archived channel will appear in the search result, and they can access the chat history. People within your organization will remain as part of the group.
3. If you have installed any apps in the channel, Slack will automatically disable the apps when you click “Archive.” Doing so helps keep your data more secure.
4. Slack automatically restores all its content to its original state if you want to unarchive the channel. So, at any point, you can unarchive the channel without losing any data.

The above points mean that when you archive a channel, you close it to new activities. However, if you want to access any messages or files in the archived channels, you can still do that using the search functionality.

Also, it’s certainly possible to archive a Slack channel and unarchive it whenever you want. To find achieved channels, head to the channel browser on the left-hand panel of your main page.

Conclusion

Every team needs a Slack channel to communicate and collaborate properly. While it can be helpful, you might need to archive your channels at some point. We hope from the step-by-step guide and explanation above, you now know precisely how to archive a Slack channel on Android, desktop, and iOS.

Remember that archiving a channel stops members from posting any messages or uploading files in the channel. And if you have installed any apps, they will also be disabled. To search for archived channels, use the search option or go to the Channel browser in the left-hand panel of your main page.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Ascannio/Shutterstock.com.