All archive forms have the following characteristics.

General

• The archive form is a regular form. The detail view in the  forms list shows its Type as Archive.
• Changes to the definitions of the main form (for example, changes to database indexes) are also applied to the archive form. Addition of data fields cause the same fields to be created on the archive form. Deleted data fields are deleted from the archive form if the form contains no data; otherwise, they are preserved. 
• Trim and button fields are not created automatically, but you can manually add trim and button fields to an archive form.
• View changes are not part of the form definition and changes to them are not applied to the archive form. You can change the form and view properties of the archive form explicitly.
• If the main form belongs to a deployable application, the archive form also belongs to the same application.
• If the main form is made "licensable", the archive form is also made licensable.
• The archive form cannot be audited or further archived.

Fields

• When the  creates a new archive form, the following two fields are included on the form:
  • Original Request ID (ID 450)
  • Original Create Date (ID 451)
     These fields contain the Request ID and Create Date from the main form. These fields are not placed in the view. To add them, open the archive form in , and choose Form > Add/Remove Fields On View. Then, move the fields to the Fields in View table.
     You can use the Create Date of the archive form as the archive date. The remaining core fields on the archive form contain the same values as the main form.
• Data fields, attachment pools, and panel holder cannot be modified or added to an archive form. All other field types, such as trim or table, can be added or modified.
• The data fields in the main and archive form have identical field limits. The permissions on archive forms are always read access.

Workflow

• Workflow from the main form is not attached to the archive form when it is created. You can add workflow to an archive form, but workflow cannot modify data in an archive form.
• Filters that execute on Delete execute when archiving deletes data.

Import and export

• Data can be exported from an archive form and imported into an archive form, but existing entries in an archive form cannot be overwritten.
• During import, if only the main form is present, archiving is disabled for that form, and a warning is returned. When archive is enabled for that form,  checks to see if the archive form is present. If no form is found,  creates the archive form. If the archive form is found, it is used only if it is a valid archive form.
• If the main form is part of a lock block from an exported definition, the archive form is part of the same lock block.

Archive forms created by 

When  creates archive forms, they have the following characteristics in addition to those listed above:

• Any unique index on the main form is created as a non-unique index on the archive form. As the Entry ID and Create Date fields are duplicated on the archive form in the new fields, any index on those fields is applied to the new fields instead. 
• When an archive form is created, the entry points are cleared, but you can add entry points.
• All other form properties are copied from the main form to the archive form. However, after the archive form is created, subsequent changes to the main form properties are not copied to the archive form.
• The owner of the non-core fields on the archive form is set to the owner of the archive form, not the original form.

 () and archive forms

When a form used in a distributed operation is archived, the distributed fields are copied to the archive form but are not updated. You cannot add distributed fields to an archive form.

Changes to the definitions of the main form (for example, adding or deleting  or database indexes) are also applied to the archive form.

The addition of data fields causes the same fields to be created on the archive form. Deleted data fields are deleted from the archive form if the form contains no data; otherwise, they are preserved.