Backup vs. Archive vs. Purge

bluefactory gives you three ways to manage the lifecycle of your Salesforce data. They look similar — all three select a set of records — but they answer very different questions. This page helps you pick the right one.

Backup — "Keep a copy, change nothing"

A backup copies data out of Salesforce and changes nothing in your org. Records stay exactly where they are; you simply gain a point-in-time snapshot you can restore, query, or compare later.

Use Backup when you want protection against accidental deletion, bad data loads, integration bugs, or user error.

Archive — "Move it out, keep it safe"

An archive captures records to storage, verifies the copy, and then deletes the records from Salesforce. The order matters: nothing is deleted until the copy is confirmed safe. Archived records remain fully accessible in bluefactory — you can browse them, query them, and restore any of them back into Salesforce later.

Use Archive when old records (closed cases, past activities, historical logs) are consuming Salesforce storage or slowing down your org, but you still need to keep them for reference or compliance.

Purge — "Delete it, everywhere, for good"

A purge deletes records from Salesforce without keeping any copy. This is deliberate: when a legal or compliance obligation requires you to erase data, keeping a hidden copy would defeat the purpose. Because purge is irreversible, it is protected by a pre-flight review that shows you exactly what will be deleted, whether the records are covered by a backup, and how related records are affected — and it requires explicit confirmation before anything runs.

Use Purge when you must permanently dispose of data — for example to honor a data-retention limit or a right-to-be-forgotten request.

caution

Purged data is not recoverable through bluefactory unless it was captured by a backup before the purge ran. The pre-flight review warns you when records in scope have never been backed up.

Side-by-side

	Backup	Archive	Purge
Copies data to storage	✅	✅ (verified first)	❌
Deletes from Salesforce	❌	✅ (after verification)	✅
Data remains accessible	✅ snapshots	✅ archived records	❌
Reversible	—	✅ restore from archive	❌
Typical trigger	Schedule	Schedule or manual	Manual, with confirmation