Clone & archive
Copy an experiment as a starting point and tidy up finished experiments.
Two functions help you to keep your project organized: cloning copies an experiment so that you do not have to start from scratch, and archiving moves finished experiments out of your list.
Clone an experiment
Clone an experiment if you want to run a similar test again, test a follow-up idea, or restart a test with fresh data.
- Go to Experiments in your project.
- Open the row menu of the experiment and click Clone.
- Confirm the window Clone Experiment ("This will create a copy of the record.").
ABlyft shows the notification Experiment cloned with the link Go to experiment. You can also clone from the Archive list, which is useful to repeat an old test.
What is copied
| Copied | Not copied |
|---|---|
| Name (with the suffix (Copy)), description, tags and settings of the experiment | Results and collected data |
| All variations, including their changes | Schedule |
| Attached pages, audiences and goals | Membership in exclusion groups |
| Attached environments |
The clone always starts as Draft, even if the original is running. Nothing is published until you start the clone.
Pages, audiences and goals are shared
The clone uses the same pages, audiences and goals as the original, it does not duplicate them. If you change a page, audience or goal that is used by both, both experiments are affected.
Rename the clone so you can tell the two apart, then check variations and settings before you start it.
Archive an experiment
Archiving removes an experiment from your active list without deleting it. Use it for experiments you have finished and do not need any more day to day. Results and settings are kept.
- Go to Experiments.
- Open the row menu of the experiment and click Archive, then confirm. The notification Archived successfully appears.
To archive several experiments, select them and choose Archive selected in the bulk actions.
What happens when you archive:
- A running experiment is paused first, so visitors see the original page again.
- If the experiment was active, ABlyft publishes your project. See the publishing delay.
- A schedule of the experiment is removed.
- The experiment no longer appears in the list of experiments.
Find archived experiments
In the navigation, open Experiments → Archive. The number next to Archive shows how many experiments are archived. The list shows:
- the columns Variations, Environments, Archived at (date and person), Participants and more, which you can toggle,
- the filter Has collected data,
- the button Results for experiments that collected data.
Unarchive an experiment
- Open Experiments → Archive.
- Open the row menu of the experiment and click Unarchive, then confirm.
You can also select several experiments and choose Unarchive selected, or open an archived experiment and click Unarchive at the top.
The experiment returns to your list. It keeps the status it had when it was archived. Because archiving pauses a running experiment, an experiment that was running comes back as Paused.
Delete an archived experiment
In the Archive list, the row menu also contains Delete, and the bulk actions contain a delete action. Delete only experiments you really do not need any more. Members, admins and owners can delete experiments, see Roles & permissions.
Automatic clean-up of archived experiments
ABlyft remembers in the visitor's browser which variation a visitor has seen in each experiment. Many experiments over time can make this storage grow. To prevent this, turn on the project setting Automatically clean up bucketing in Project → Settings (section Project Activations Settings).
When enabled, experiments that you archived within the last 6 months and that collected data are removed from this storage in the browsers of your visitors. Archiving an experiment then also publishes the project, so that the snippet knows which experiments to clean up.