Template:Archives/doc

The  template may be used to add a box containing page links to archived discussions. It will automatically detect archived pages by default, if they follow the format, eliminating the need to manually update the box each time a new archive page is created. However, if a list of archives is given manually through the first unnamed parameter, then it does not check for archives automatically. Instead,  or   has to be added, if both manual and automatic lists are used.

This page is intended to explain the details of template usage. For a general guide to archiving, see: Help:Archiving a talk page, which includes more information on using this template and others.

Basic
To use this template, place at the top of a talk page, usually after any other header or project templates.

To convert the box into a larger, talk page banner, use.

Adding template to talk page with talk header
When you add this template to a talk page with the Talk header template, please ensure display of archives isn't duplicated.

As you add the Archives templates, you might want to suppress display of archives and archive search in the talk header. Here's an example using lowercase sigmabot III at default settings:

Change



to



All parameters


Parameter descriptions
First the basic parameters are discussed followed by notes on them; then follows separate sections for parameters related specifically to the icon, search, and more.

No parameters are necessary for detection of archive pages following the format of  (that is, named "Archive 1", "Archive 2" and so on): these are detected automatically by default. There is no practical upper limit to the number of archives.


 * (1st unnamed parameter) or 1=: Inline list of manually maintained archives. For example: " list=Archive of 2017, Archive of 2018-19, Archive of 2020 ". No subpages are assumed unless specified (e.g. " list=/Archives/2017 " and so on). Using this parameter disables automatic detection, but this detection can be re-enabled with  or , making the template display both manual and automatic archives. This is usually done when other related archives are linked, such as when using centralized talk pages or adding links to archives of alternative accounts.
 * list: The same as the unnamed parameter, except the disabling of automatic detection cannot be re-enabled. In other words, using list instead of 1 makes the template ignore the auto parameter's secondary function of forcing auto-detection.
 * auto= : Specifies the format of the auto-generated archive list and forces automatic detection. If left unspecified, the default is "long", meaning links to archives are spelled out ("Archive 42"); any other word (except "no") will result in "short", resulting in shorter links (e.g. "42"), and "no" will disable auto-detection, meaning that even if there are archives following the  format they will not be displayed automatically. Auto-detection is also disabled if a manual list is supplied. However, if this list is supplied by the 1st unnamed parameter rather than the list parameter, auto-detection can be re-enabled by overriding the default by using   or.
 * banner: "yes" converts the box design of the template into a talk page banner style of template, with the archives listed in a horizontal row above the search bar.
 * large: identical to the banner parameter.
 * index: Links the "Archives" title to a specified subpage that should be the subject index page for all archived discussions, such as "Archive index". The slash "/" is not used for this parameter. Legobot may be used to create and maintain such an index. To link to a different subpage, only use the subpage name and don't add the slash "/". For example, to link to the Talk:Example/Page Index subpage, use Page Index.
 * archivelist: In conjunction with this parameter you are able to create a whole page where you can customize your archive list. The parameter specifies a link to this page, which should be a subpage that contains the archive list. The name of this page is commonly simply "archivelist", i.e. the same name as its parameter. This is also the default assumption, see notes below. The slash "/" is used for this parameter. As an example of real usage: Wikipedia:Media copyright questions/Archivelist. As you can see Media copyright questions/Archivelist is set up to be used by the Archives box on its respective page.

Icon image

 * image : An alternate image to be used, defaults to " ". May also use image-size.  results in no image.
 * alt : Alt text for the image, for visually impaired readers. See WP:ALT. This defaults to empty. If a nonempty value is specified for,   should be nonempty too, and should indicate what will happen if the user clicks on the image.
 * link : Link for the image. This normally defaults to empty, which means no link. However, if  is nonempty, it defaults to the image's file page.

The link and alt parameters only take effect if the image is changed from the default.

Search

 * search: Default: yes. If no, removes the search box.
 * root: Specifies a different base than . Useful for when this template is located on a different page than the page being archived. Use prefix, if the addition of a trailing slash is not desired. The archive wikilinks generated are of the form.
 * prefix: Similar to root, but does not automatically add a trailing slash.
 * search-break: Inserts a newline between the search bar and search button preventing them from being on the same line. Default: no if in banner format yes otherwise
 * search-width: Default: 22
 * search-button-label: Default: Search archives. "button-label" is an alias.

Archival method

 * target: The title of the page (just the name, no link syntax) that threads are currently being archived to, for manual archiving.
 * bot : If specified, a note about automatic archiving will be shown.
 * age : If specified, this will be displayed as the archiving delay.
 * units : If specified, this will display units for the archiving delay. The default is "day" or "days".
 * minthreadsleft : If specified, this will display a note explaining the page won't be emptied out

For pages automatically archived, please note these parameters do not actually control the bot. Changing them does not change the bot's behavior. They're a duplicate set of parameters intended to convey the auto-archiving settings to human readers.

Other parameters

 * collapsible : If yes, makes the list collapsible.
 * collapsed : If yes, makes the list collapsed.
 * style : An arbitrary string of CSS can be applied to the box (use with care).
 * title : An alternative title, defaults to "Archives". The title is automatically linked to the /archivelist subpage, if it exists. If another link is desired, a wikilink may be inserted here.
 * editbox : If yes or omitted, includes a button to edit the archive box's sub-page /archivelist.

Examples

 * Default


 * Short, index, collapsible, bot, age, threads

TemplateData
{	"params": { "1": {},		"demospace": {}, "banner": { "aliases": [ "large" ],			"type": "string" },		"collapsed": {}, "collapsible": {}, "box-width": { "deprecated": "True" },		"style": {}, "search": {}, "age": {}, "target": {}, "image": {}, "alt": {}, "link": {}, "image-size": {}, "title": {}, "list": {}, "auto": {}, "index": {}, "start": {}, "archivelist": {}, "root": {}, "prefix": {}, "search-break": {}, "search-width": {}, "search-button-label": { "type": "string" },		"units": {}, "bot": {}, "minthreadsleft": {}, "editbox": {}, "class": {} } }

Redirects

 * 1) archive banner
 * 2) archive box
 * 3) archive search
 * 4) archive searchable
 * 5) my talk archives
 * 6) search archive
 * 7) search archives
 * 8) talk archives