Most Salesforce users archive records but forget the files attached to them. That’s a storage disaster waiting to happen.
When your Salesforce org starts to approach storage limits, archiving records seems like a natural step. But here’s the catch: archiving just the records and not the attachments creates a massive gap in your data management strategy. Salesforce recommends keeping storage under 100% usage, but most orgs creep up to 110–120% before hitting hard caps. And once you do, uploads fail, records won’t save, and your org’s performance can tank.
This blog breaks down what really happens to attachments when you archive Salesforce records, and how to handle both files and data together, the right way.
What Are Archived Records in Salesforce?
Before we dive into the attachments story, let’s clarify what “archived records” actually are.
In Salesforce, archived records are essentially inactive historical data moved out of primary storage to reduce load, improve performance, and optimize storage usage. These could include closed Opportunities, completed Cases, inactive Accounts, or any records you don’t need daily, but must retain for compliance or audit.
It’s important to note that Salesforce archive records aren’t permanently deleted. They’re typically stored externally via a Salesforce data archiving solution, either on cloud platforms or on-prem systems. This ensures that while your active CRM environment remains lean, your historical records remain intact and accessible when needed, one such data archiving solution being DataArchiva.
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Now that we know what record archiving is, let’s talk about the part many forget: attachments.
Understanding Attachments in Salesforce
Attachments in Salesforce come in several types, and understanding how they work is essential before archiving:
- Notes & Attachments (Legacy)
- Salesforce Files
- Chatter Files
- Email attachments
Each of these formats is associated with a parent record, like a Case, Account, or Opportunity. These files might be quotes, signed contracts, customer documents, the kind of things you can’t afford to lose during archiving.
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Here’s the catch: when you archive Salesforce attachments improperly, they can become orphaned, break data relationships, or worse, continue eating up Salesforce storage despite being linked to archived data.
So, what happens when you archive a record but not its attachments?
What Happens to Attachments When You Archive Records?
By default, Salesforce archiving processes focus on record data, not files. Most native or third-party solutions move data fields but leave out attachments, unless explicitly configured.
That means your Salesforce archive records might look clean, but the attachments tied to them are still sitting in primary storage. This results in:
- Broken links: Archived records point to attachments that no longer exist or have moved.
- Orphaned files: Files exist with no clear parent object.
- Storage still consumed: You’ve archived the data, but the files are still costing you.
This scenario is one of the most common Salesforce file archiving issues, and it defeats the very purpose of archiving, freeing up space and improving efficiency.
The Real Problem: Archiving Data Without Files Is Incomplete Records
Let’s say you archived 100,000 closed Cases, saving tons of data storage, but didn’t archive the associated file attachments. You’ve only done half the job.
From a data compliance perspective, this is risky. Files often contain the audit trail or client signatures required during regulatory audits. If those go missing or remain unlinked, your org could face legal and operational setbacks.
Not archiving files also weakens traceability, creates inconsistencies, and limits your ability to perform full data recovery during business continuity exercises.
So, if you’re handling Salesforce record archiving for retention, audit-readiness, or compliance, skipping attachments is like locking your car but leaving the windows open.
Managing Files and Data Together
Archiving Salesforce files and data together ensures a holistic, secure, and storage-optimized environment.
Here’s why you need to prioritize Salesforce file management in your archiving workflows:
- Better compliance: Regulatory standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX often require full record context, including files.
- Complete recovery: In the event of a rollback or legal dispute, you’ll need both metadata and associated attachments.
- Reduced storage costs: Proper file-level archiving in Salesforce drastically cuts down storage costs, especially when paired with external storage.
By combining file-level archiving with Salesforce processes with data workflows, you ensure nothing gets left behind and that your archived data tells the full story.
How to Archive Salesforce Attachments + Records the Right Way
So, how do you do this right?
Manual processes are prone to error. Downloading files, re-uploading them, and mapping them back to archived records is time-consuming and not scalable.
The best approach is to automate Salesforce archiving using tools like DataArchiva that maintain:
- Parent-child relationships: Ensuring files still relate to their original records.
- Metadata mapping: Preserving context, ownership, and sharing permissions.
- Data + metadata + files: Creating a comprehensive and compliant archival structure.
This is where an automated Salesforce file archiving tool steps in, allowing you to streamline record and file archival into one seamless process.
Meet DataArchiva: Archive Files & Data in One Go
DataArchiva is a powerful Salesforce data archiving solution that takes care of both records and attachments, all in one go.
Here’s how it solves the problem:
- Supports both cloud (AWS, Azure) and on-prem storage.
- Maintains relationship integrity between records and files.
- Offers up to 85% cost savings on Salesforce storage.
- Speeds up performance by keeping your org lean and searchable.
Let’s say your org has 200 GB of data in storage. Archiving 80 GB of inactive records with attachments using DataArchiva can bring down usage below 70%, freeing up space and saving thousands annually on extra storage blocks. Read such success stories here!
That’s not just storage optimization, it’s strategic Salesforce data management.
Best Practices for Archiving Files in Salesforce
To ensure long-term success, follow these best practices:
- Encrypt files before and after archiving to maintain data privacy.
- Schedule regular audits of your archived data to ensure it remains compliant and usable.
- Preserve metadata integrity so that archived files retain full context, such as owner, version history, and created dates.
Final Thoughts
If you’re only archiving field data and leaving attachments behind, you’re missing the point. Salesforce data archiving is not just about cutting storage; it’s about maintaining record completeness, ensuring compliance, and enabling full recovery when needed.
Remember: data + files = complete records.
How to Archive Salesforce Records & Attachments Together?
Businesses that archive strategically with tools like DataArchiva have seen storage cost reductions of 60–80%
