Archive and Data Retention
Overview
Q&A sessions in TimelyChurch follow a two-stage end-of-life: Closed (the conversation is over but the session is still in your dashboard) and Archived (the session is removed from active lists but data is preserved). On top of that, sessions support a third tier — deletion to a Trash — for full removal with restore capability.
This page documents what each transition does, what data survives, and how to get it back if you need to.
Status Lifecycle Recap
The full lifecycle is documented in Q&A Overview. Briefly, the relevant terminal states are:
| Status | Visibility to Participants | In Admin Q&A List | Editable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | "This Q&A session has ended." Existing questions still visible (read-only). | Yes, in active list | Reopenable to Live |
| Archived | "Session ended." Plain-text page, no question history shown. | Hidden from default list (visible with "Show archived" filter) | Read-only; can be restored to Closed |
| Deleted (in Trash) | Same "Session ended" page (the system treats deleted sessions as not found). | Hidden entirely; visible only on the Trash view in the admin area | Restorable from Trash |
Archiving a Session
From the admin session detail page, click Archive Session (or the same button in the host panel's overflow menu). This:
- Moves the session into Archived status.
- Closes any still-active polls and records when they closed.
- Records the archive timestamp on the session.
- Logs the transition to the activity log.
Archiving is reversible -- click Restore from Archive in the admin detail page to put the session back into Closed status. Restoring does not reopen the session for new submissions; the host would need to explicitly click Reopen Session (which transitions Closed -> Live) afterward.
What Participants See After Archive
Anyone who visits the participant page for an archived session sees a simple "Session ended" page. The full question and poll history is not shown to participants in this state -- it is only available to admins.
This is intentional: archived sessions are out of the audience's hands, but admins keep access for follow-up, reporting, and CSV export.
What Survives Archive
Everything. Archive is a status flip, not a data operation. After archive:
- All questions (approved, pending, rejected, deleted) are preserved.
- All votes are preserved.
- All polls and their option vote tallies are preserved.
- All host replies are preserved with their original timestamps.
- The blocklist of participants is preserved.
- The Host PIN and Display Token are preserved (and still functional if an admin opens those URLs, though there's no live audience to serve).
You can still download the CSV export for an archived session at any time -- the Download CSV button on the session detail page works in any status from Closed onwards. See Moderation -> Exporting Session Data.
Soft-Delete (the Trash)
Deleting a session from the admin moves it to the Trash rather than wiping it out.
Deleting
Click Delete Session on the admin detail page (requires the event-delete permission). The deletion:
- Marks the session as deleted with the current timestamp.
- Removes the session from the Q&A list (it no longer appears there).
- Cascades the deletion down to associated questions, votes, polls, and blocks. The related records are also marked as deleted rather than physically removed.
Restoring from Trash
In the admin Q&A list, switch the filter to Trashed. You see deleted sessions with their delete timestamp and a Restore button. Restoring undoes the deletion on the session and its related records, returning the session to whatever status it had at deletion (typically Closed or Archived).
Permanent Deletion
Trashed sessions are not automatically purged. Old Q&A data is never hard-deleted on its own. If you need to permanently remove a session for compliance reasons (data subject deletion request, for example), use the Force Delete action on the trashed session -- this physically removes the session and its related records. Force-delete is irreversible.
Retention Recommendations
There is no enforced retention policy in TimelyChurch. Sessions stay in your account indefinitely (Closed, Archived, or Trashed) until you act. Most churches find the following pattern works:
- Active series (a 6-week sermon series with weekly Q&A): keep all sessions in Closed so they're easy to compare week over week.
- Completed series: archive the lot to clean up the active list, but don't delete -- the data is small and the CSV exports remain available.
- Old / one-off events (a single town hall from two years ago): archive immediately. Delete only when you're confident you'll never want the data back.
- Compliance / deletion requests: force-delete from the trash.
Data Volume
Q&A data is light. A typical Sunday session has under 200 questions, a few hundred votes, and a few polls. Even a year of weekly sessions occupies negligible storage. You should not feel pressure to delete sessions for performance reasons.
Audit Trail
Every status transition (going live, pause, resume, close, archive, reopen, delete, restore) is logged. The activity log shows which user performed the action and when, viewable from the session detail page's Activity tab. Deleted sessions in the Trash retain their activity log; force-deleted sessions lose it.
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