Archiving in Trello takes a card or list off your board without deleting it. An archived card goes to the board's Archived items, where you can send it back to the board whenever you like. Archived cards are never deleted automatically, so archiving is the safe way to tidy a board and deleting is the step you cannot undo.
Boards work slightly differently, because a board is not archived but closed. This guide covers all three, the shortcut that makes archiving fast, and the two places where archiving quietly turns into permanent deletion. Card steps follow Trello's help page on archiving and deleting cards, which we read in October 2026. Steps for lists and boards come from the same menus in the Trello web app and from a third-party guide, so check your own menu if Trello has renamed something.
How do you archive a card in Trello?
There are three ways, and the keyboard one is the fastest:
- Open the card and select Archive card in the actions menu on the back of the card.
- Hover over a card on the board, select the pencil icon and choose Archive.
- Hover over a card and press
C.
Trello also shows an archive icon when you hover over a card you have marked complete, so finishing a card and clearing it from the board is two clicks.
Archived cards do not disappear from Trello entirely. They sit in the board's Archived items section and stay there until you restore or delete them. Search also finds them: type part of the title into the search bar and archived cards that match are listed.
How do you archive a list in Trello?
Select the three dots next to the list title and choose Archive this list. The cards in the list go with it, so one click can clear a whole column of finished work.
An archived list is a different thing from an empty list. If you archive the list and later need the column again, you have to bring it back from Archived items, and its cards come back with it.
How do you archive a board in Trello?
You cannot archive a board. Trello calls the same idea closing. Open the board menu, choose More, then Close board. The board leaves your boards page and keeps all of its content.
To get it back, go to your Trello home page, open the closed boards list at the bottom of the Boards section, open the board and select Reopen board. Only a board admin sees the board in that list. The longer story, including who may delete a closed board and what to export first, is in our guide to deleting a Trello board.
Where do archived items go, and how do you restore them?
Archived cards and lists live in the Archived items section of the board where they were archived. To restore one:
- Open the board and select the three dots at the top right.
- Choose More, then Archived items.
- Switch between Cards and Lists at the top.
- Find the item and select Send to board (the card page calls the same action Restore).
Two details catch people out. Archived items belong to one board, so you cannot search across boards for an old card from the Archived items screen. And a closed board has to be reopened before you can reach its archived items at all.
Cards archived from Trello's Inbox are a separate case. They are stored with the Inbox, not with a board, and you find them in the Inbox menu.
When does archiving turn into deleting?
In two places, and both are worth knowing before you clean up.
| What you do | What it removes | Can you undo it? |
|---|---|---|
| Archive a card or list | Nothing, it moves to Archived items | Yes, with no time limit |
| Close a board | Nothing, the board is hidden | Yes, a board admin can reopen it |
| Delete an archived card | The card, for good | No |
| Delete an archived list | The list and every card it ever held, including cards you archived earlier | No |
| Delete a closed board | The board and everything on it | No |
The list row is the one to be careful with. A list collects cards over months, and some of those were archived long ago. Deleting the archived list deletes all of them together, and there is no trash bin to recover from. Trello also requires a card to be archived before the Delete option appears, which is a useful speed bump, not a reason to delete in bulk.
If you want a board with less on it, archive. If you want a record of what the board held, export it first. We cover the options, and what each file leaves out, in how to export a Trello board.
Is archiving the right way to keep a board small?
Archiving does help. Trello says archived items are not loaded when a board opens, which is why a large board with years of finished cards feels faster after a cleanup. It is also the only built-in habit that keeps the board readable, because Trello has no automatic archiving. A card stays in "Done" until a person moves it out.
That is a workflow problem more than a Trello problem. A board where finished work piles up in the last column is a board without a rule for when work leaves it. Some teams archive on Friday, some archive the moment a card is done, and some cap how much may sit in a column at once, which is the idea behind WIP limits. Pick one and write it on the board, because the tool will not pick for you.
How does archiving work in EasyKanban?
EasyKanban handles the same job with the checkbox on a card. Ticking it archives the card into a "Done" sheet, where finished work can be looked at without sitting on the board. A board can also name a column as the check-off target, so ticking a card moves it to a review column first and only archives it from there.
The free plan allows three boards with unlimited cards, so there is no reason to archive cards to stay under a limit. If you are comparing the two tools for this, the Trello alternative page shows what carries over when you import a Trello export, and kanban vs Trello compares a plain board with Trello's feature set.
FAQ
What happens when you archive a card in Trello?
The card leaves the board and moves to the board's Archived items. It keeps its content, and you can send it back to the board at any time. Trello does not delete archived cards automatically, so they stay there until you restore or delete them.
How do you find archived cards in Trello?
Open the board menu, choose More, then Archived items, and switch to Cards. You can also type part of the title into the search bar, which lists archived cards that match. Archived items are stored per board, so look in the board where the card lived.
Can you archive a whole Trello board?
Not under that name. Trello calls it closing a board. Open the board menu, choose More, then Close board. The board is hidden but keeps its content, and a board admin can reopen it from the closed boards list on the Trello home page.
Is archiving in Trello the same as deleting?
No. Archiving is reversible and has no time limit. Deleting is permanent and Trello cannot bring the item back. A card must be archived before Trello offers the Delete option, so deleting is always a second, deliberate step.
What is the keyboard shortcut to archive a card in Trello?
Hover over the card and press C. This works on the board without opening the card. It archives the card straight away, and you can bring it back from Archived items in the board menu if you pressed it by mistake.