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Archived Knowledge Bases and Restore

To keep the platform fast, EKB can archive a knowledge base that has not been used for a long time. By default this happens after 365 days without activity for a project knowledge base, and after 90 days for the files uploaded to a chat. Your Super Admin controls these periods; see KB Retention.

What archiving means​

Archiving removes only the search index of the knowledge base. Nothing you added is deleted:

  • every document, file, folder, tag and piece of metadata is still listed;
  • uploaded files, crawled pages and Confluence, Google Drive and SharePoint links are kept;
  • chats and their messages are unchanged.

While a knowledge base is archived, agents cannot search it, and you cannot add content to it until it is restored. You can still browse, rename, move and delete documents.

Restore a project knowledge base​

When a project knowledge base is archived, the Knowledge Base page shows a banner and the upload and add actions are disabled.

  1. Click Restore KB in the banner.
  2. Confirm. The knowledge base is rebuilt from the documents it contained when it was archived.
  3. The banner shows progress as documents are re-indexed. You can leave the page; the restore continues in the background.
  4. When the restore completes the banner disappears, search works again and you can add content.

Restoring re-indexes every document through the normal ingestion pipeline, so it uses the same credits as syncing those documents would.

Only project admins can restore a project knowledge base. Other members see the banner with a note to ask a project admin.

Restore a chat's files​

When the files uploaded to a chat have been archived, the chat shows a banner and file upload is disabled in that chat.

Click Restore chat files and confirm. Anyone who can edit the chat, or who owns it, can restore it.

If a restore fails​

The banner shows what went wrong and a Retry button. Retrying is always safe.

  • "These sources are no longer available": some documents have no retained text and their original file is no longer in storage. Nothing is rebuilt until this is resolved. Re-upload those documents, or delete them from the knowledge base, then retry.
  • "These documents could not be re-indexed": the listed documents failed to process. Retry; if they keep failing, re-upload or remove them.
  • "Restore timed out", "Restore stopped responding", "Verification failed" or "Restore could not be verified": retry. If it keeps failing, contact your administrator.

Documents you deleted while the knowledge base was archived are simply skipped. A restore never reports success while any remaining document could not be rebuilt.

What keeps a knowledge base active​

Any of the following counts as activity:

  • chatting with an agent in the project, or using an agent that searches the knowledge base, including from another project;
  • adding or syncing documents;
  • messages in the chat (for chat files);
  • restoring the knowledge base.

Projects with a scheduled KB sync or a recurring crawl are never archived.