Archivum Inactive Archiver

Most sites collect plugins that are switched off but not quite ready to be deleted: something you are testing, a tool you use twice a year, a plugin you replaced but might need to go back to. They clutter the Plugins screen and their code still sits on your server.

Archivum Inactive Archiver adds a third option between “inactive” and “deleted”. Archiving moves a plugin’s files out of wp-content/plugins into an archive folder inside wp-content. WordPress no longer sees it, so it disappears from the Plugins screen, but its files are kept exactly as they were. Restore it with one click whenever you need it, and it comes back on its latest version.

What it does

• Adds an Archive link to every inactive plugin on the Plugins screen, and Archive to the bulk actions.
• Adds an Archived count next to All / Active / Inactive.
• Adds a Plugins → Archived Plugins screen where you can restore or permanently delete archived plugins, one at a time or in bulk.
• Updates a plugin when you restore it, so it comes back on its latest version instead of the one it was archived with.
• Download any archived plugin as a zip, ready to install again, before you delete it.
• Shows when each archived plugin was last updated, when it was first and last archived, and how long it has been in the archive.
• Points out active plugins that never load. On a site that uses a plugin filter to skip plugins on some pages, it notes on the Plugins screen any active plugin that has not loaded on a single request in 30 days, and, more quietly, any that loads only in wp-admin or background tasks, on single sites.
• Keeps the archive in a folder whose name is different on every site, protected from web access, and checks that protection, with a warning on the screen and in Tools → Site Health.
• Works with single-file plugins (such as Hello Dolly), and on multisite in Network Admin.

What it deliberately does not do

• It never archives an active plugin. Deactivate first.
• It never activates a plugin on restore. A restored plugin comes back inactive, even when it has been updated.
• It never overwrites. If a plugin with the same folder name already exists where a move would land, the move is refused and you are told why.
• It adds nothing to the public side of your site: no scripts, styles or output. On front-end requests it only compares two lists, to notice plugins that never load.
• It collects nothing about you or your visitors, sends nothing to its authors and shows no advertising. The only outside requests are WordPress’s own update checks when a plugin is updated on restore.

Archivum Pro

For people who look after many sites, Archivum Pro is a separate add-on that archives and deletes inactive plugins automatically (always with a week’s notice), runs plugins’ own uninstall routines to clean up their data, flags abandoned plugins, keeps an activity log, and adds WP-CLI commands. This plugin is complete without it.

Things you should know

• Plugin settings stored in the database are not touched by archiving, restoring or deleting.
• On Apache the archive folder is protected from direct web access, and an equivalent rule file is written for IIS. Some servers ignore those rules, nginx among them. The Archived Plugins screen checks and warns you; see the FAQ.
• On multisite, archiving is available to network administrators in Network Admin, the same place plugins are installed and deleted.

Disclaimer

This plugin is free software, provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, as set out in sections 11 and 12 of the GNU General Public License v2 included with it. The authors are not liable for any loss or damage arising from its use, including lost files, settings or data.

It moves and deletes other plugins’ files on your server. You are responsible for deciding which plugins to archive or delete, for keeping current backups of your site’s files and database, and for checking the result. A deleted plugin can only be recovered from a backup, or from a copy you downloaded first.