Why tabs are archived
Tabs below the divider, your Today tabs, are archived after they have been idle for a while. The sidebar stays short without you closing anything, and every archived tab stays in the archive, ready to reopen.
Pinned tabs, folders and Favorites are never archived automatically.
When a tab counts as idle
The clock starts when a tab was last on screen: when you switch to another tab, another Space or another window, or quit the app. A tab you have open in front of you, or one that is playing sound, is never archived. Open Arc checks every few minutes.
Change the timing
Open Settings ▸ Profiles, choose the Profile, and set Archive tabs after:
- 12 hours (default)
- 24 hours
- 7 days
- 30 days
Each Profile has its own setting, so a work Space and a personal Space can archive at different speeds. If yesterday's tabs keep disappearing in the morning, choose 24 hours or longer.
Archive by hand
- ⌘W archives the selected tab. Open Arc archives rather than closes, so nothing is lost.
- Clear on the divider (⇧⌘K) archives every Today tab of the Space.
- Deleting a Space archives its tabs.
Bring a tab back
- ⇧⌘T (Restore Last Closed Tab) reopens the most recent one. Press it again to go further back.
- The command bar (⌘T) also finds archived tabs: type part of the title or address.
- Archive ▸ View Archive… or the Library (⇧⌘L) ▸ Archived Tabs lists everything, newest first and grouped by day. Search it, or click Filter to show only tabs that were archived automatically or by hand, or from one Space or Little Arc.
Click an archived tab to reopen it at the top of its Space's Today tabs. Right-click it for Restore Tab, Copy Link or Delete from Archive.
Empty the archive
Archive ▸ Clear Archive deletes every archived tab after asking. It does not touch your open tabs, and it cannot be undone.
Little Arc windows
Little Arc windows have their own timer: Settings ▸ Links ▸ Archive Little Arcs after (6 hours by default). Their pages also land in the archive. See Peek, Little Arc and links from other apps.