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Archiving old web pages

Posted on by Rishan Solutions

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Archiving old web pages in Power Pages (formerly Power Apps Portals) is essential for managing and retaining historical content while optimizing the performance and user experience of your portal. As web content changes and evolves, some pages may become outdated, but instead of deleting them, you might want to archive them for future reference or compliance reasons. This guide will walk you through various approaches to effectively archive old web pages in Power Pages.

Step 1: Define the Need for Archiving

Before proceeding with archiving strategies, it’s important to define why you need to archive certain web pages and what purpose the archive will serve. Some common reasons for archiving old web pages include:

  • Compliance: Certain industries or regulations require that old web pages and content be retained for a specified period.
  • Historical Record: Keeping a historical archive of content allows future reference and audit purposes.
  • SEO and Traffic Management: Keeping archived pages available in a way that doesn’t harm the SEO of your current website.
  • Performance Optimization: Removing outdated or irrelevant content from your live portal to improve user experience and performance.

Step 2: Decide on the Archival Strategy

There are different ways to archive web pages depending on your needs. Let’s look at several strategies:

Option 1: Using Power Pages Content Management

One approach is to simply hide outdated pages from your live portal but still retain them in the system for reference. This is a non-intrusive way to archive content.

Steps:

  1. Disable Navigation Links:
    • In the Power Pages portal, go to the Navigation section and remove the links to outdated pages. This ensures that users cannot easily access these pages from the portal.
  2. Set Expiry Dates:
    • If applicable, use expiry fields or content start and end date configurations on specific web pages or portal records to indicate when content should no longer be shown to users but kept in the system.
  3. Custom Views or Filters:
    • Create custom views or filtered lists to segregate archived pages from active content. This way, you can still access old content when needed but keep it separated from current, active web pages.
  4. Disable Page from Public Access:
    • You can also set the page permissions to disable public access while retaining the data for future use.
  5. Keep the Page in the Database:
    • The page’s data will still exist in the Dataverse backend, allowing you to access it for reference or restore it if needed.

Option 2: Exporting Content to External Systems

If you need to keep the archived pages outside Power Pages but still accessible for reference or historical purposes, exporting the content to an external system or database is a viable option.

Steps:

  1. Export Data to SharePoint or Azure Blob Storage:
    • You can use Power Automate to create a flow that exports old web pages or their content (HTML, metadata) to SharePoint or Azure Blob Storage. This ensures that the pages are archived externally but can be retrieved when needed.
  2. Export HTML Content:
    • Export the HTML content of each old page into an archive folder. Store this content in a structured way in your preferred cloud storage solution.
  3. Use Power Automate or Azure Functions:
    • Automate the archiving process using Power Automate to trigger archiving actions based on certain conditions (such as page age or last modified date). You can also use Azure Functions to create a custom archiving process.
  4. Automated Naming and Versioning:
    • You can implement naming conventions or version control systems while archiving old web pages, so that you can easily retrieve and manage archived content over time.

Option 3: Creating an Archived Section within the Portal

Another approach to archiving is creating a designated section within the Power Pages portal to hold archived pages. This provides users or administrators access to older content in a controlled and accessible manner.

Steps:

  1. Create an Archive Section:
    • Add an Archived Pages section to the site navigation or create a separate subsite specifically for archived content.
  2. Add Redirects:
    • You can add redirects from old pages to the archived pages section. For example, if a user visits an outdated page, they could be automatically redirected to the archived content.
  3. Set Permissions:
    • You can restrict access to archived pages by setting permissions that allow only certain users (e.g., admins, content managers) to access the archived section.
  4. Custom Web Templates for Archives:
    • Create a custom web template to display archived pages. This could be a simplified version of the original layout but designed specifically for archived content.

Option 4: Using Dataverse for Content Archiving

If you want to archive the content at a database level, you can use Dataverse (the underlying data platform of Power Pages) to store and organize archived pages.

Steps:

  1. Create an Archive Entity in Dataverse:
    • Create a custom entity in Dataverse to store archived page data. The entity can include fields for page metadata (e.g., title, content, date archived, and any related resources like images or documents).
  2. Move Content to the Archive Entity:
    • Using Power Automate, you can automate the process of moving content from the live portal to the archive entity. This can be based on page age, last update, or other criteria.
  3. Query Archived Content:
    • Use Power Apps or Power BI to query the archived content stored in Dataverse for reporting, analysis, or restoration purposes.

Step 3: Implementing Access Control for Archived Pages

When archiving old pages, you might want to limit access to them or make them available only for certain users. Here’s how to implement access control:

  1. Adjust Security Roles:
    • Use Power Pages security roles to manage who can access archived content. For instance, limit access to archived pages to admins, content managers, or compliance officers.
  2. Configure Permissions for Archived Sections:
    • If you create a dedicated archive section, make sure that only authorized users can view or edit the archived pages. Use Web Roles in Power Pages to manage these permissions effectively.
  3. Redirect Unauthorized Users:
    • If an unauthorized user tries to access archived pages directly, you can implement redirects that guide them to an appropriate page, such as the homepage or an access request form.

Step 4: Automating Archival with Power Automate

For efficient and systematic archiving, Power Automate can be used to automate the process. Below are examples of scenarios where Power Automate can help:

  1. Trigger Based on Page Age:
    • Set up a flow to trigger the archiving process based on the age of a page or inactivity (e.g., if a page hasn’t been modified in 6 months).
  2. Archiving Content on Submission:
    • If content is submitted for archiving via a form, automate the flow to move it to an archive entity, update its status, and disable it from active views.
  3. Email Notifications:
    • Use Power Automate to send email notifications to administrators when a page is archived, so they can keep track of the changes in the portal.

Step 5: Regular Maintenance and Review

It’s important to periodically review and clean up archived content to ensure that the archive remains relevant and efficient.

  • Audit Archived Pages: Regularly audit archived pages to ensure that they are still required or if they can be deleted to free up space.
  • Check Links: Ensure that there are no broken links leading to archived pages in the active portal.

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