After installing and activating ArchiveWP for the first time, you’ll be redirected to the first-time configuration screen. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up ArchiveWP, allowing you to use it on your website.

If you want to revisit the first-time configuration at any time, you can find it by going to Settings → ArchiveWP → First-time configuration.

First-time Configuration Steps

Step 1: Activate your license

The first step to using ArchiveWP is to activate your license key.

Your license key is required to receive software updates, access email support, and utilize premium features in the plugin. Your license key can be found in the following places:

On the order confirmation page.
In your receipt email.
On the license keys page in your Equalize Digital account.

Enter your license key in the field and click the “Save license & continue” button.

Step 2: Choose your archive page

Step two is to select an existing page to display archived content or have the plugin automatically create a new page for the content archive.

Step 2 with radio options to a) created a new page or b) create an existing page. If choosing an existing page, a dropdown is presented to select from published pages. The save button says "Continue to layout selection."

If you choose to create a new page, ArchiveWP with publish a new page with the title “Archived Content”.

If you prefer to use an existing page, you can choose any published page from a dropdown.

After making your selection, click the “Continue to layout selection” button.

Step 3: Select a layout for the Archived Content page

Step three allows you to choose a layout for your Archived Content page quickly.

Step 3 with radio fields for choosing a left sidebar or single column layout for the Archived Content page. There is a checkbox toggle for overwriting existing content on the page.

Based on your selection here, ArchiveWP will insert the applicable blocks into your Archived Content page. The following blocks will be inserted:

ArchiveWP Disclaimer: This shows the disclaimer text, which you’ll edit later in the setup wizard.
ArchiveWP Filters: This allows for the posts to be searched by keyword or filtered by category or previous post type.
ArchiveWP Loop: This inserts the posts in the page with titles, excerpts, featured images, and more.

The layout options allow you to choose between having the filters on the left and the posts on the right, or a single-column layout with the filters above the posts.

You can edit the page later in the WordPress editor or your page builder if you want to make further design, layout, or content adjustments.

If your Archived Content page already contains content and is not empty, you’ll need to toggle/check the option to overwrite existing content with the selected layout. Important: this is destructive. If you already have content or a custom design on your Archived Content page, this setting will cause it to be lost.

Once you have selected your desired layout, click the “Apply selected layout” button.

Step 4: Configure content settings

Step four allows you to choose which content types can be archived and whether taxonomy terms are maintained when posts are archived.

Step 4 showing checkboxes styled as toggles for multiple different post types such as posts, pages, directory, documents, events, and more, followed by taxonomy settings as described below.

Archivable post types

ArchiveWP will show a list of all post types available on your website. In this step, you must select every post type that should support the archive workflow.

If you check/toggle on a post type, then the users with appropriate permissions will be able to move posts from that custom post type (CPT) into the content archive. Any post types that are not enabled will not have ArchiveWP controls, which means posts in that CPT cannot be archived.

At least one post type must be selected for the plugin to work.

Taxonomy preservation

After selecting the post types you want to be archivable, you can, if desired, set taxonomy terms associated with posts to be maintained when the posts are archived.

If you enable “Copy taxonomy terms to Archive Categories when archiving posts,” then when posts are archived, any terms (categories, tags, or custom taxonomy terms such as “event categories”, etc.) will be copied to the Archive Categories taxonomy.

Archive Categories can be used to filter posts in the archive.

Enabling this setting means you don’t have to manually categorize content after it is archived. You can edit and remove archive categories as needed later by going to Archived Content → Archive Categories in the WordPress admin menu.

If you keep this setting disabled, you can still manually add categories and apply them to archived content later.

Front-end archive category pages

The final setting in step four is “Enable Archive Category term archive pages on the front end.”

If enabled, all Archive Categories will have a front-end term archive page showing the archived content in that category. The ArchiveWP disclaimer will be inserted at the top of the page; however, your theme will otherwise determine the design for these pages.
If disabled, Archive Categories will still be available for searching and filtering posts, but there will not be a public landing page for each individual category.

Generally, we recommend leaving this setting disabled, as landing pages such as these are unlikely to provide value to users and could result in duplicate content or other SEO issues. Enable this setting only if you have a strong reason for needing individual categories to have landing pages.

After you have configured the desired settings, click the “Save and continue” button.

Step 5: Display Settings

Step five allows you to control how archived posts render on the front end and whether legacy URLs redirect visitors.

Step five with radio fields for choosing to use the theme template or original post template and a checkbox/toggle for enabling automatic redirect creation.

Archived post template

Here you choose what template you want archived posts to use on the front end of the website. This controls how archive posts look. There are two options:

Theme template (recommended): Utilizes your active theme’s default single post template and automatically adds the ArchiveWP notice above the post content. We recommend utilizing this setting unless the posts you’ll be archiving have a lot of custom meta or rely on custom templates for outputting key data.
Original post template: This option utilizes the template from before the post was archived and is the best choice if you need to preserve custom layouts or ensure information entered in custom fields is still displayed on the archived posts. Note that the disclaimer will not be injected into these posts, so a developer may need to add it conditionally to the relevant post templates.

Redirect behavior

The final setting in step five is a checkbox/toggle for enabling automatic redirects from the original URL to the archived version.

When this is enabled, ArchiveWP will automatically create 301 redirects from the original post URL to the new URL, which contains /archived-content/. Enable this setting if you are concerned about losing traffic or the SEO value of posts as they are archived, or if you want to prevent users from experiencing a 404 error when visiting the old URL.

This setting may be necessary even if you have a redirect or SEO plugin that tracks changes to posts, as those plugins may not be able to monitor posts being archived with ArchiveWP.

After you have configured the desired settings, click the “Save and continue” button.

Step 6: Disclaimer

Step six allows you to customize the ArchiveWP disclaimer text.

Step 6 of 7: Set your archive disclaimer with a WYSIWYG text editor.

This step contains a single WYSIWYG editor that enables you to customize the message displayed at the top of archived posts, on the Archived Content page, and on the Archive Categories term pages (if enabled).

Use the disclaimer to explain why the content was archived and how visitors can contact you if they need to request an alternate format or have other questions about the archived content. Default content for the disclaimer is:

The following content has been archived and is retained exclusively for reference, research, or record-keeping. Content in this archive may not be accessible to all forms of assistive technology. If you would like to request an alternative format, please contact us.

The disclaimer outputs in a div, and you can put HTML in the content editor if desired.

Important note: some jurisdictions may require specific language identifying content archived as an exception for accessibility requirements. If you are concerned about legal compliance, consult an attorney for proper disclaimer text.

After you have customized your disclaimer text, click the “Save and finish” button.

Step 7: Review and finish

Step seven in the first-time configuration onboarding wizard is a review step.

Step 7 shows a summary of all the setting selected in the previous steps.

Once you reach step seven, all you need to do is review your saved selections to make sure they are correct and complete. If needed, you can click an “Edit” button to go back to a prior step and adjust your settings. Otherwise, if everything looks complete, there are no actions to take in this step.

Next Steps

After completing the first-time configuration, here’s what we recommend doing next:

Click the link to view your Archived Content page and make sure it looks good. Edit it if needed to adjust the design or settings.
Start archiving content.
Once content has been archived, add the Archived Content page to your navigation menu(s).

First-Time Configuration