Yes – Auto Archive reads and updates entries through the Gravity Forms API, so Gravity Forms must be installed and active. If Gravity Forms is inactive, the plugin’s settings remain available so your configuration is never lost.

No. Archiving flags entries and hides them from the default view. They stay in the database and can be restored at any time from the Archived tab. Only Pro’s optional trash/permanent-delete actions remove data — and those always export a backup first.

Yes – every Pro feature is free to try for 14 days, no credit card required. Use the Run now button during your trial to watch the full pipeline (archive → export → cloud backup → summary email) run in seconds instead of waiting for a scheduled cutoff. If you cancel, you simply drop back to the fully-functional free version.

Open a form and go to Settings › Auto Archive to set its rule. The global activity log lives under Forms › Settings › Auto Archive. Per-entry archive and restore links appear right in each form’s Entries list.

A daily check runs via WP-Cron in your site’s own timezone and applies your rule. Note that WP-Cron fires on site traffic — very low-traffic sites, or sites that have disabled the native WordPress cron, may benefit from a real server cron job to guarantee timing. You can always trigger a run immediately with Run now.

Yes. Run now fires your rule on demand so you can confirm exactly what gets archived (and, in Pro, that your backup and export succeed) before relying on the daily schedule.

Always, for archived entries – restore any single entry from its row, or pull a whole cycle back at once. Entries that Pro trashes or permanently deletes follow WordPress’s normal trash/deletion behavior, which is why Pro writes a CSV backup to your own storage before any destructive run.

Archive (free) hides entries but keeps them in the database — fully reversible. Trash (Pro) moves them to Gravity Forms’ trash. Permanent delete (Pro) removes them for good to reclaim space. Both Pro actions export and back up first.

Free archives any form manually and automates one form’s age rule. Unlimited forms, annual/date cutoffs, and retention-based deletion with backups are part of the Pro upgrade.

Daily runs depend on WP-Cron firing (see above). Summary emails (Pro) are sent through your site’s standard wp_mail() setup — if other WordPress emails aren’t being delivered, a transactional email or SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP usually resolves it. The plugin logs problems to your PHP error log.