When to archive a habit

Archiving is not quitting

An archived habit keeps everything: every check-in, every note, the longest streak. It just leaves Today and stops being due. Its streak is frozen at its last value and labeled "Archived," and it stops counting toward the Sweep streak.

Think of it as finishing a chapter, not tearing out pages.

Three good reasons to archive

• It became automatic. You make the bed without the app. You stopped looking at the card a month ago. The habit is done in the best sense: it no longer needs tracking. Archive it and use the slot.
• It stopped fitting. The Photo of the day habit was lovely in summer and has been a skip since October. A habit that is mostly skips is a habit asking to be archived.
• It was a season. Some habits are for a project, a month, a particular stretch of life. No caffeine after 2pm for a few weeks of early starts. When the season ends, so does the habit, and that is a success.

Two bad reasons

• You missed a few days. A rough week is not a verdict. What to do after you miss a day is the better response; give it another two weeks before deciding.
• It is annoying. Annoying usually means too big or in the wrong slot. Try shrinking the target or moving the time of day first. Archive only if the smaller version is still unwelcome.

Archive, pause, or delete

Three different tools:

• Archive: keeps history, frozen streak, leaves Today. Reversible; unarchive any time. Available on every plan.
• Pause (Pro): the habit stops being due for up to 30 days, then comes back. Streak intact. For "not this month," not "not anymore."
• Delete: removes the habit and its history permanently, after you type the habit's name to confirm. For mistakes and duplicates, not for habits you are done with.

If you are unsure, archive. It is the only one you can take back without consequences.

The Free limit and archiving

Free allows five active habits. Archived habits do not count toward that, so archiving is how you rotate: five on Today, as many as you like in the archive. A habit you want to revisit later can sit there for a year and come back with its history.

If you have more than five and want them all active at once, that is what Pro is for. But it is worth asking whether you want them active or just do not want to let go of them. Archiving answers the second one for free.

Timing

The best time to make this decision is during a monthly review, with the heatmap in front of you, rather than on a Tuesday night when the card annoys you. Look at completion rate and the pattern of skips. Monthly review with Insights walks through it.

A habit with a completion rate under a third for two months running is either too big or no longer wanted. Either way, something changes.

An end date instead

If you know a habit is for a fixed stretch (thirty days of Sketch, a month of Meditate to see if it sticks), set an end date when you create it. The habit stops being due on that day, cleanly, and you decide afterward whether to extend it or archive it.

Letting go well

There is no ceremony for archiving in SweepTech and there does not need to be. But it is worth a glance at the detail page first: the big streak number, the calendar, the notes. That is what you did. Then archive it, and pick the next thing with a clear slot; how to pick your first five habits has the criteria.

Try it in SweepTech

Open a habit you have been skipping more than doing, read its timeline, and decide: shrink, move, pause, or archive. If it is a seasonal habit like Photo of the day, archive it and start something new in the slot today.