Archive & restore puts finished stock history aside so it does not sit among your everyday entries. The history stays saved in this workbook: you can read it later or bring it back to the working pages. Start by asking the tool to list what is ready to archive; that first step does not change any records.
Stock and the things produced from it belong together in this history. Sometimes several lots go into one output, or one source produces several outputs. This page calls that whole connected group a family. Keeping the family together means you can still tell where the stock came from.
The Maintenance menu offers different actions. Preview eligible history lists stock that may be ready to put aside and explains what needs to remain among your everyday entries. Archive saves a finished family’s history here and removes it from the working entry pages. Retrieve opens the saved details for reading. Restore brings those details back to the working pages with their original stock numbers.
These actions use the extra tools in Extensions → Farmer’s Helper — Development. You need that add-on available in this workbook and permission to use it. Before archiving or restoring, make a separate workbook copy and open it to check your recent records. The archive is inside the file you are changing, so it cannot replace a separate copy. Follow Backup & updates for the steps.
On Archive & restore, click the Job number box in cell B4 and choose a saved job from the dropdown. If you are unsure which job you need, check its Stock numbers and State on Archive history first. Choose Retrieve selected job to read its saved details on Retrieved history. Reading it this way does not return stock to the working pages or change current quantities.
To bring the history back, first pause everyone’s entry again and have one person choose Restore selected job for that same Job number. Wait until State in Archive history says Restored and the completion message says entry can resume. The history returns with its original stock numbers; newer entries are not replaced.
Keep entry paused and choose the same interrupted Job number from the dropdown in B4. If you are unsure of the number, find the interrupted job on Archive history using its Stock numbers and State, then select that job in B4. Choose Resume selected job and wait for its completion message. Continue that attempt rather than starting a new archive over the same records.
Select family chooses the connected stock that will be archived together. Tick one eligible member and the selection covers its entire family; checking every member is unnecessary. Read the family’s Reason first, especially if some related source or output is still active, because the history may still be needed for that stock.
This is the lasting label of an item or lot listed in the preview. Use it to recognize the stock and the other members of its family. The number still belongs to that stock after archiving, so choose a different number for new stock instead of using it again.
On hand is the amount still recorded as physically present. A lot that is held or not yet ready can have no availability while still having stock on hand. The family needs to be genuinely finished; changing availability does not remove physical stock or make it eligible for archive.
Family members tells you how many stock numbers are in the connected group. A member might be one item or a lot containing many items, so this is not a total quantity. The group follows the source stock and what was produced from it, including any other sources combined into those outputs.
If any source or output in that family is still active, the whole family stays among your everyday records in this version. This can keep old outputs in place while their continuing source remains. An old date by itself is not enough to archive part of the family.
Eligibility tells you whether the whole family is ready for archive. Eligible means no physical stock remains, no work is open and no unfinished change prevents it. Keep live means it needs to remain among your everyday records; Reason explains why.
Deal with the actual work or unfinished entry where needed, then preview again. If stock genuinely remains, leave it recorded. Changing an amount or decision merely to make the family pass would make the farm’s history inaccurate.
Reason explains what prevents this family from being archived. It might name remaining stock, an open task or an unfinished correction or draft entry. Use the explanation to find the matter that needs attention, deal with it truthfully, then preview again before choosing the family.
Archiving and continuing after an interruption have so far been checked with a small family containing two stock numbers. We have not yet established how long a large amount of farm history will take to maintain or how easy that work will be. This practice version does not yet show that archiving makes everyday entry faster.
The archive preview can list up to 200 stock numbers and keep up to 50 archive jobs. Retrieved history can show up to 1,999 saved details from one job. If a limit prevents an action, keep your history and read the message rather than deleting records to make it fit. Post entries still has a limited number of lines: archiving does not add new lines for later submissions.