How to set up and use the app
1. Requirements and installation
- Jira Cloud Standard or Premium. Jira Free has no custom permission schemes, so projects cannot be made read-only there; the app shows a notice instead.
- Company-managed projects. Team-managed projects have no permission or notification schemes and are shown as "not supported".
- You need to be a Jira administrator to use the app.
- Open Jira → Settings → Apps → Find new apps (or visit the Atlassian Marketplace).
- Search for Project Archiver and click Get app / Try it free.
- Open Jira → Settings → Apps → Project Archiver.
2. The admin page
The page lists every project with:
- Work items — how many work items the project has
- Last activity — the most recent update of a work item (or the archive date)
- Status — Active, Inactive (no work item updated for 6 months), Archived, or "Team-managed (not supported)"
Use the search field to find a project and Only projects without activity for 6+ months to see archive candidates.
3. Archiving a project
- Click Archive in the project’s row.
- Optionally enter a reason (it is shown in the history).
- Click Archive project.
The app then changes four things and remembers the original values:
| What | Archived state |
|---|---|
| Permission scheme | Project Archiver – Archived (read-only): only the project lead and the project role Administrators can browse the project; nobody can create, edit, transition, comment or delete. The app’s own access role keeps read access so other apps keep working. |
| Notification scheme | Project Archiver – No notifications (empty) — the project sends no emails. |
| Category | Archived |
| Name | Prefix [Archived] |
For everyone else the project disappears from project lists, search, boards, filters and dashboards. Direct links to its work items return "not found". All work items, comments, attachments and history remain in Jira.
The two schemes and the category are created by the app on first use and shared by all archived projects. Please do not edit the archive permission scheme; the app resets it to the read-only grants on every archive.
4. Restoring a project
- Click Restore in the project’s row and confirm.
- The app puts back the original name, permission scheme, notification scheme and category (or removes the notification scheme and category if the project had none). Users regain the access they had before.
5. History
The admin page shows the latest archive and restore actions with date, project and reason.
6. Frequently asked questions
Is anything deleted or moved out of Jira?
No. The app only switches schemes, the category and the name. There is no export, no external storage and no deletion.
Who can still see an archived project?
Members of the project role Administrators of that project and the project lead, read-only. Add a user to that role if they need access to an archived project.
What about Jira Premium?
Premium and Enterprise include native project archiving. Project Archiver also works there, but it is built for Standard sites.
What happens when I uninstall the app?
Archived projects stay archived (the schemes remain in Jira). Restore them before uninstalling, or switch the permission scheme, notification scheme, category and name back manually in the project settings.
7. Privacy and security
- Runs entirely on Atlassian (Forge, "Runs on Atlassian"). No external services, no AI, no data egress.
- Stored in Forge storage: project IDs and keys, original names, original scheme and category IDs, archive dates and reasons. No personal data.
- All actions are executed as the signed-in Jira administrator.
8. More apps by KeulTech
- Dependency Guard for Jira — enforce "is blocked by" links: block Done while blockers are open, notify waiting work items
- Component Archiver for Jira — archive Jira components without losing history and block their reuse
9. Support
Questions or problems: keul.tech/support · Privacy: keul.tech/privacy · Security: keul.tech/security