If you want to stop any activities in a Facebook group, but don’t want to delete it, a great option you have is to archive the Facebook group.
In this Facebook group tutorial, we are going to share when you should archive a Facebook group and how to archive a group step by step.
As of 2022, you might not be able to archive a Facebook group anymore, we are going to share some other techniques you can use as an alternative to temporarily stop a Facebook group.
To see how to archive a Facebook group in a video tutorial, check out this one:
How to archive a Facebook group?
Here is how to archive a Facebook group:
- Open the Facebook group you want to archive
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the Facebook group homepage
- Then select the ‘Archive group’ option.
- Then on the popup window, confirm that you want to archive this Facebook group.
The other main advantage of archiving a Facebook group is that it is not a permanent decision so if you change your mind and want to make the Facebook group active again, you can do that by unarchiving it any time in the future.
What does it mean to archive a Facebook group?
When you archive a Facebook group, as the name suggests, the Facebook group is not deleted, but all the most important activities are stopped in the Facebook group.
While the Facebook group is archived, no member can create new Facebook posts or comment on previously posted content. New members are not able to join and people can’t leave the Facebook group.
Archiving a Facebook group is a temporary thing, so you can unarchive, or reactivate a Facebook group any time you wish to do so.
Update: Facebook archive function is not available
As of 2021, archiving a Facebook group feature has been deprecated, so you no longer can archive a Facebook group.
Check out the section called ‘Archiving Facebook groups alternatives’ to learn more about what you can do instead of archiving.
Can’t archive Facebook group
If you can’t archive a Facebook group anymore, it is probably because the feature has been deprecated. Instead of archiving a Facebook group, you have multiple alternatives, as we will show next.
If the archiving Facebook group feature is still available, make sure you have Facebook group admin access as it is necessary to archive Facebook groups.
Archiving Facebook groups alternatives
Instead of archiving a Facebook group, now you have three alternatives you can do:
1. Pause a Facebook group
The new feature how you can basically archive a Facebook group now is by pausing the Facebook group. This is pretty much the same now as the legacy archive feature.
You can learn more about pausing Facebook groups in this Facebook group tutorial:
You can also check out this video tutorial on the alternative of archiving a Facebook group:
2. Delete a Facebook group
If you don’t want to reactivate a Facebook group and you are not interested in preserving the content of the Facebook group, you can just simply delete a Facebook group.
To learn more about this, check out this FB group tutorial:
3. Rebrand a Facebook group
Last but not least, if you have changed plans, and the original topic of the Facebook group has changed, you can just simply rebrand the Facebook group.
In this case, you don’t have to start growing the Facebook group from scratch.
Learn more here about how to rename the Facebook group and how to add a customized URL to the Facebook group:
Frequently Asked Questions – How to archive a Facebook group?
Here are some frequently asked questions related to archiving a Facebook group:
How to unarchive a Facebook group?
If you have archived a Facebook group, you can unarchive it any time you want. All you have to do is to open the Facebook group, then click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the Facebook group homepage, then select ‘Unarchive group’
How to archive a Facebook group on mobile (iPhone & Android)?
If you are using an iPhone or an Android phone, the process of archiving a Facebook group is pretty much the same as archiving the group on a desktop computer. The user interface is a little bit different, but you have to find the ‘Archive group’ option as well to unarchive the Facebook group.
Pause vs archive Facebook group: What is the difference?
Pausing and archiving a Facebook group means the same things. Pausing is the name of the Facebook group archive feature.
How to find archived groups on Facebook?
There is no way to find archive groups on Facebook. However, you can find and identify all Facebook groups that have been archived and you are a member in.
Who can archive a Facebook group?
Only Facebook group admins are able to archive Facebook groups, just like they are the ones who can create and delete Facebook groups.
Is pausing a Facebook group the same as archiving?
Yes, they are pretty much the same, they mean that a Facebook group is temporarily deactivated.
