> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://salsa-digital.gitbook.io/govcms-content-administration/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://salsa-digital.gitbook.io/govcms-content-administration/creating-editing-and-archiving-content/archiving-vs-unpublishing.md).
# Archiving vs unpublishing
Content on government websites should ideally never be deleted, to comply with government record-keeping practices.
GovCMS provides you with two options to remove content from being publicly accessible.
While much of the functionality around this is part of the [Workflow module](/govcms-content-administration/workflows/content-moderation-and-workflow.md) (which is covered later) it's important to understand the various content 'states' while we learn how to edit content.
### Unpublished or archived
When content is **Unpublished** it means either:
* There is no active published version of that page on the website
* The content has been archived
For example, below is the content item display for a brand new page saved in **Draft**. There is no published version of this page and it's **not accessible by the public**.
Status column shows Unpublished for newly drafted content
The same **Status** is also shown for pages that are **Archived**, which is a workflow state given to content that had been published but needs to be removed.
Status column shows Unpublished for an Archived page
When content is **Archived**, it still exists in the CMS (the change history and revision log is still there if anyone needs it) but it's no longer publicly accessible.
### Deleted
Deleting content **permanently** removes it from the website. Once deleted, the only way to recover it involves a full website backup restoration.
You should really only delete content if it was created by mistake or was never made public.
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