Reports, folders, and other items accumulate in a volume unless you archive or remove them. Archiving is the process of placing a file in an archive directory. Aging an item means setting a limit on the length of time to retain the file before deleting it from the volume. When you set aging rules, you indicate whether to archive the item before deleting it. Expiring a file means removing it from the volume. When a file expires, the system either deletes it or places it in the archive directory, depending on the file archive rules.

The Actuate Archiving API supports automating the aging and archiving processes for volume items. Autoarchiving is the process of archiving and removing items on a specific schedule, using the archive rules that you create.

You set autoarchive rules when you create or update report files, folders, and job completion notices. For example, you can create a rule that removes all quarterly sales reports older than one year, or a rule that removes all successful job notifications older than ten days, or one that archives the oldest instance of a daily stock report when the volume contains more than five newer instances.

The system administrator uses System Console to create the archive volume to hold the archived files. Each production volume has a single archive volume.