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Archive items in Square Dashboard

Who is this article for?
This article is for business owners and team members with item creation permissions who are archiving items in Square Dashboard. Learn more about Square Staff and custom permissions.

About archiving items

Archive items to prevent them from being sold without permanently deleting the items and losing all item data and stock history. In Square Dashboard, you can archive items and they will still appear in your inventory reports.

You have three options for archiving items in Square Dashboard:

  • Archive a single item

  • Archive items in bulk

  • Archive items with the bulk import tool

Before you begin

To archive items, you will need to have existing items in your Item library and access to your Square Dashboard. Learn how to create items in Square Dashboard or in the Square POS apps.

Archived items will not show in Square Point of Sale, the Square Retail POS app, the Square Restaurants POS app, Square Appointments, or Square Online. Once you archive an item, all variations of the item will also be archived.

If you are subscribed to Square for Restaurants (Free, Plus, or Premium), you will not be able to archive items at this time.

Archive items

Archive a single item

To archive a single item from your online Square Dashboard:

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
  2. Click the three dots (•••) on the row of the item you want to archive.
  3. From the drop-down menu, click Archive.
  4. If your item has variations, click Archive to confirm you want to archive all item variations.

You can also archive a single item by selecting it and clicking Actions > Archive.

Archive items in bulk

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
  2. Click the box next to each item you want to archive.
  3. Click the Actions drop-down menu > Archive.
  4. If your item has variations, click Archive again to confirm you want to archive all item variations.

Archive items in bulk with the import tool

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
  2. Click the Actions drop-down menu > Export library.
  3. In the exported file, go to the Archived column.
  4. Change the cell from N to Y.
  5. Import your file by going back to your Item Library and selecting Actions > Import Library.

View archived items

You can view a list of archived items or check if an item has been archived in Square Dashboard.

Filter archived items list

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
  2. From the list of filters across the top of the screen, click Active.
  3. From the drop-down menu, click Archived.
  4. All of your archived items will appear in this filtered view.

Check a single item

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
  2. From the list of filters across the top of the screen, select All statuses or Archived.
  3. Click an item to view the details.
  4. You will see a notification stating “This item is archived. Unarchive to begin selling again.”

Archived items will show the archived box icon next to them. If you hover over the box, you will see a notification stating “This item is archived”.

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