# Archiving vs Closing & Bulk Topic Update
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [January 29, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818 "2019-01-29T11:52:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JoshDevInit](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JoshDevInit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/1 "2019-01-29T11:52:48Z")
Hi there,
Over time our forum has become rather cluttered with old topics so we are undergoing a clean up task. I have a couple of quick questions (apologies if these have been answered elsewhere!)…
1. What is the difference between Archived and Closed topics? I have seen elsewhere that an archived topic cannot be altered at all whereas a closed topic simply cannot be replied to. We were hoping that closed topics would still be visible within their category whereas archived topics would only be available to view if they are searched for. Is this possible? It seems at the moment that archived topics can still be viewed within their category?
2. Is there a way to bulk-update a number of topics, perhaps where there hasn’t been an update in X amount of time? This clean-up is long overdue so manually archiving each individual topic will not be an insignificant task!
Thanks in advance.
Josh
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/2 "2019-01-29T12:03:25Z")
> [@JoshDevInit](#):
>
> We were hoping that closed topics would still be visible within their category whereas archived topics would only be available to view if they are searched for. Is this possible?
No, that’s not possible.
> [@JoshDevInit](#):
>
> Is there a way to bulk-update a number of topics, perhaps where there hasn’t been an update in X amount of time?
In any topics list, you can click the “list” icon left to the “Topics” header to enable the bulk selection of topics. After selecting some topics, click the 🔧 on the right and select either “Close” or “Archive” topics.
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### Author:  [@JoshDevInit](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JoshDevInit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/3 "2019-01-29T12:12:16Z")
Thanks for the swift reply!
So am I right in saying that a post will not be bumped when it is archived, but will remain in the Category itself forever (or until it’s deleted)?
And with regard to bulk updating topics, if we use the ‘auto close topic hours’ on a category, will that be actioned against all existing topics that haven’t been updated within that window or will that only work for subsequent posts/topics?
Thanks,
Josh
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### Author:  [@SidV](https://meta.discourse.org/u/SidV)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/4 "2019-01-29T13:01:44Z")
> [@JoshDevInit](#):
>
> What is the difference between Archived and Closed topics?
More info: [Best practices for archiving topics - #4 by codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-for-archiving-topics/27069/4)
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### Author:  [@dax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dax)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/5 "2019-01-29T15:17:55Z")
We have a guide that explain the difference between archived, closed and unlisted topics.
> [@Understanding closed, unlisted, and archived topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-is-the-difference-between-closed-unlisted-and-archived-topics/51238):
>
> bookmark This guide explains the differences between Closed, Unlisted, and Archived topics in Discourse, including their characteristics and use cases. person_raising_hand Required user level: All users Discourse offers various ways to manage topics, including closing, unlisting, and archiving. Each of these options serves a different purpose and has specific effects on how topics are displayed and interacted with. This guide will explain the differences between these three states and th…
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/archiving-vs-closing-bulk-topic-update/107818/6 "2022-02-04T12:40:56Z")