This post shows students and new users how to disable or enable archive apps in Windows 11. Windows comes with a new feature called Archive apps that automatically archives apps that you rarely use to save storage and internet bandwidth.
By default, it is enabled in Windows 11. When it’s on, your files and other data will be saved and archived. The next time you attempt to use an archived app, it will leave the archived state, and reconnect to the internet to download and restore to the latest version, provided the apps is still available.
This can be terrifying especially an app that is rarely used and not very popular, gets archived and can’t get restored because the full version is no longer available. When you think about it, I want to believe that when you attempt to reuse an archived app, it is still functional, and all your files, folders, and other data still intact. If not, you may be happy about not reusing an important app that you rarely use.
To reconnect online to restore makes me think this is not the case. However, you can disable the feature in Windows so not to find out if your archived apps are able to restore when you want to use them again.
The new Windows 11, when released generally to everyone, will come with many new features and enhancements that will work great for some while adding some learning challenges for others. Some things and settings have changed so much that folks will have to learn new ways to work with and manage Windows 11.
Archive apps isn’t new to Windows 11. It was first released as preview in Windows 10.
To get started with disabling or enabling Archive apps in Windows 11, follow the steps below:
How to disable or enable archive apps in Windows 11
Again, the feature is easy to turn off or turn on. Simply follow the steps below to do that.
Windows 11 has a centralized location for majority of its settings. From system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows, all can be done from the System Settings pane.
To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + i shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings as shown in the image below:
Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.
Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click Apps, and select Apps & features on the right pane of your screen shown in the image below.
On the Apps & features settings pane, expand More settings, then select Archive apps as highlighted below.
On the Archive apps settings pane, toggle the button to disable or enable it.
How to enable archive apps in Windows 11
If you disabled it and you changed your mind about archiving your rarely used apps, you can go and re-enable it as shown below.
To do that, reverse the steps above by going to Start ==> Settings ==> Apps ==> Apps & features ==> More settings ==> Archive apps and enable it there.
That should do it!
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to disable or enable Windows 11 Archive apps feature. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.
