Hi, I am a Dynalist beginner.
What is the recommended approach to archive completed files?
Currently, I move completed files to ‘Archive’ folder. It would be great to know how you guys do.
Thanks a lot,
Masa
it depends how you use dynalist
the general consensus is to only use one document since there’s global tag searches is not nearly as effective as searches within just ONE document by itself
Also, what is your definition of “Completed files”. I use dynalist mostly for project wikis
Do you mean CTRL+ENTER tasks crossed out? You can always just
"hide checked items" near the topright of dynalist
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Thank you very much for your advice.
the general consensus is to only use one document since there’s global tag searches is not nearly as effective as searches within just ONE document by itself
Interesting. So is it recommended to be used like Workflowy?
I thought that keeping all the crossed (hidden) items slows down performance. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something.
I have more than 50 files. Each one of us is different, give yourself two weeks to try different ways and you will find your natural workflow, instead of forcing it.
The same with archiving. I have different ways to that, depending on what I’m working with. In some places I have journal like style where old stuff is stored on the bottom of document, and for other things I have two files, one is with current stuff, second with the same name but with"~" at the beginning is for archived stuff. Why not in one file? No idea, I just like it sometimes more. And I have also one file with name “#archive” where I sometimes move other things with textexpander macro (automated cmd+shift+m - I just type “;ar” and item under the icon is moved to the bottom of “#archive” file - you can also use phraseexpress to attach shortcut for that kind of action, instead of abbreviation) - fast, sweet and easy.
We have here very flexible tool already and it will be even more flexible in the near future, so don’t limit yourself, experiment with it 
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This is true, but not that much.
Officially we recommend using multiple documents, but some people like to keep everything in one document either because Search Everywhere results are not currently editable or out of habit (just my guess). We respect that too.
If you want to share part of your huge document though, you’ll need to make that a separate document in Dynalist.
The problem with archiving in an outliner is losing context. For example, maybe you have an item that says “Hand in final draft” under “Essay for some course”. If you archived “Hand in final draft”, it has lost its context. We don’t know much value is preserved this way.
Personally, I just use the “Delete checked items” to clear my items from time to time as I don’t need archiving. If you’re fine with losing the context, we can add a similar option that sends all checked items to a location. The UI will be similar to the “Move to…” dialog.
What do you think?
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Thanks a lot. So it is about balancing between performance and preserving items’ context. Perhaps I should try your approach for months and see if I can stand with the change of performance.
Thanks a lot for your tips! I will experiment to see what works for me.
This issue of archiving actually highlights a further reason why I have migrated towards one document for ‘nearly’ everything - every possible action I have to take is in a single document. This allows me to exclude e.g. archived documents from that search if I want to by making them a separate document. The editable global search thing is another major reason, and load time (although admittedly quite small) between documents is a third, but mostly yes it is due to the current inability to run a search on specific folders and exclude others.
Another one here for the ability to Complete or Archive specific Documents.
I use different documents for different Projects. When the Project is Completed I’d like to be able to hide it from my day-to-day view.
Definitely not delete the document as I may need to refer to it or reopen it.
Completing it, or Archiving it would be perfect - thank you.
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What about moving these documents into a folder called “Archived” and keep it folded in most cases?
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Hi @Erica, moving to an Archive Folder is ok & certainly would work short term, but ideally, it would be better if it stayed in its current location & was just hidden away. This makes it much quicker for reference purposes and saves you creating a duplicate Document with the same name, just because you forget to look in the Archive Folder, forgot to reinstate it & forget to move back to its correct folder. Thanks!
You don’t want them to just be checked off though? Checked items can stay in their current location and be hidden as requested.
Hi @Erica, thanks. Yes, personally, I’d prefer Documents to work exactly the same as Notes eg we just check them off/mark them as Complete & they hide away. We then have an option to Show/Hide Checked Items just as we do in Notes. I think this would be easier as it would basically work the same way as Notes & therefore the learning curve would be small. Thanks
Yeah, that’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while now.
Archived documents will look faded out and be hidden if requested. They will also not appear in search results and such.
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All i do to archive my documents is throw it under a bulletpoint, and collapse it
One option would be to create an archive folder and place documents under it once the “Search in a specific folder” feature has been implemented.