In plain English
It means moving a file away from the main place used for everyday work and keeping it in separate storage. The purpose is to keep it for the long term or so it can be referred to later, usually because it is not needed for regular use now.
In context
Here, archive labels the action of placing a file into separate storage for long-term keeping or later reference because it is no longer needed for regular use.
- Situation
- Creating, saving, sharing, versioning, and restoring files
- What it communicates
- labels the action for placing a file into the archive state.
Meaning limits
In this sense, archive is specifically about placing files in separate storage, not simply marking them as less important.
Examples
“Once the project closed, the team archived the design files in separate storage for later reference.”
“After the audit ended, the scanned receipts were archived with the older records.”