Archive shifts, tasks and on-call duties you no longer use, and restore them when you need them again. Archiving changes the setup used across the location; it is different from clearing one person's allocation on one date.
Open Settings → Archives to find archived items.
Understand archiving
Item | On a normal live roster | Can it be restored from Archives? |
Shift | Archive retains the definition and turns off AI assignment. | Yes; restoring turns AI assignment on. |
Task | Archive retains the definition and turns off AI assignment. | Yes; restoring turns AI assignment on. |
On-call duty | Archive retains the definition for restoration. | Yes; see the shared restore guidance below. |
Archiving keeps the definition in Settings → Archives so you can restore it later. Areas and task blocks cannot be archived or restored through Archives.
Archive availability depends on your roster context. If Archive is not available in your department roster, check with your administrator or RosterLab contact. See Where the data remains below before proceeding.
Archive a shift, task or on-call duty
1. Open the relevant Shifts, Tasks or On-Calls page in the location.
2. Select the checkbox beside each item you want to archive.
3. Choose Archive.
4. Read the dependency warnings and confirm only when you are ready.
Shift archive warning — review the listed dependencies before confirming.
Task archive warning — review the listed dependencies before confirming.
The definition leaves the active table and remains in Settings → Archives.
Archiving removes the item's references from dependent setup. Demands and rules that no longer have anything to apply to are removed. See What archiving changes below, then review the remaining coverage setup before generating again.
You can reuse an archived shift's name for a new active shift.
Archived items cannot be assigned: archived shifts, tasks and on-call duties are no longer available for new allocations. For shifts and tasks, archiving also turns off AI Assigned. Their definitions remain available to restore. Do not use Archive as a way to clear existing roster cells.
Restore an archived item
1. Open Settings → Archives for the location.
2. Choose Shifts, Tasks or On-Calls in the Archived Items selector.
3. Select the archived rows.
4. Choose Restore.
5. Return to the relevant setup page and check the restored items.
Select the archived shifts, then choose Restore.
Choose Tasks, select the archived tasks, then choose Restore.
Restoring a shift or task also turns AI Assigned on. Check that setting if the item should only be allocated manually.
Restoring a shift, task or on-call duty makes its definition active again. It does not recreate demands, rules, group memberships or recurring references removed when it was archived. Reconfigure these where needed, then check coverage.
If a restored record's name is already used by an active record, RosterLab automatically adds a suffix to avoid a name conflict. Check the restored name before using it again.
Restore reactivates the retained definition; it does not rebuild the configuration removed during archiving.
What archiving changes
Archiving removes references to the item from dependent setup:
Coverage and configuration: matching references are removed from dependent demands, groups and configuration. Demands and rules are deleted when removing the item leaves them with nothing to apply to.
Rules: references in rule templates and patterns are removed; rules left with nothing to apply to are deleted, along with their associated employee rule values.
Employee setup: affected eligibility, recurring preferences and recurring allocations are cleaned where they reference the item.
Existing allocations: archived definitions remain available as retained records. Archiving is not a way to clear existing roster cells.
Review the remaining coverage setup and recurring configuration before generating again.
Where the data remains
Archived definitions remain in the location's stored setup and are listed in Settings → Archives. They keep their identity and remaining fields, so Restore can reactivate them.
Saved versions can contain their own copied setup. Use Settings → Archives to restore an archived live definition rather than assuming a saved version restores its dependencies.
Dependent configuration removed during archiving is not restored automatically. Check demands, rules, groups and recurring setup after restoration.
If you are unsure how archiving will affect your roster, review the dependency warning and contact RosterLab before confirming.
Related articles
Set up departments and sub rosters