Archived projects and chats are hard to find in the Agents Window sidebar, and the Archived view is unclear

Environment

  • Cursor version: [fill in]
  • macOS 27.0.1

What happened I wanted to check whether I had accidentally archived some projects. The sidebar showed one project (“Investments”) with a box-shaped icon. I could not tell if that icon meant “archived” or was just the default project icon. Archived projects disappear from the list without a trace, so the sidebar gave me no sign that anything was hidden.

Problems

  1. The Archived option is hard to find. It sits behind a small funnel icon whose tooltip says “Customize Sidebar,” a label that doesn’t mention archive or filter. Forum replies from Cursor staff describe several paths that depend on the version: the funnel menu, a standalone archive icon, Filter by > Status > Archived, or a collapsed Archived section at the bottom of the list. Users can’t know which one their build has.
  2. The name collides with another panel. A separate “Customize” button opens the Plugins/Skills/MCP panel. At least one forum user opened that one while looking for archived chats.
  3. Archiving leaves no sign behind. When a project or chat is archived, the sidebar shows no count, badge, or placeholder. A user who archives by accident sees their work vanish and assumes it was deleted.
  4. The Archived view is ambiguous. When the filter is on, the list switches to archived items only, but the sidebar looks almost the same. Nothing clearly shows that a filter is active, and the box icon doesn’t clearly show whether a row is archived.
  5. Accidental archiving is easy. In the Agents Window, Cmd+Shift+E archives the current chat. In the editor, the same shortcut opens Explorer. “Archive All” in the “…” menu has no confirmation step I could find.

Suggested fixes

  • Show an “Archived (N)” entry at the bottom of the Projects and chat lists that opens the archived view.
  • Rename the funnel tooltip to “Filter (Archived, Status)” or similar.
  • While the Archived filter is on, show a banner such as “Showing archived items. Show active.”
  • Use one distinct icon or label for archived rows, separate from the default project icon.
  • After any archive action, show a toast with an Undo button, and add a confirmation step to “Archive All.”
  • Pick one location for Archived across all builds and document it on the Projects docs page.

Hey @Bill_Stout, thanks for the feedback!

A row that shows the archive (box) icon instead of the usual status dot is an archived chat or project, so “Investments” is most likely archived.

To see everything you’ve archived, open the funnel menu at the top of the sidebar (Customize Sidebar) and check Archived under Filters. Some builds show a separate archive icon there instead. Right-click any row and choose Unarchive to bring it back.

Also, Archive All on a section shows an “Undo all” toast right after, so a misclick there can be reverted.

Thank you for the rest of your suggestions! Will share with the team.