---
key: end-or-archive-a-suppression-window
title: End, disable or archive a suppression window
audience: staff
section: critical-alerts
routes: ["/critical-alerts/suppressions"]
permissions: ["critical_alerts.suppressions.view"]
features: ["critical_alerts.core"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Stop a maintenance mute early, switch a window off and on, copy it for next time, or archive it while keeping its history.
keywords: [unmute, stop suppression, maintenance finished, turn alerts back on, archive window, restore window, duplicate, switch off]
related: [create-a-suppression-window, critical-alerts-guide]
---

In the sidebar, open **Critical Alerts**, then **Setup**, then **Suppressions**. The page address is `/critical-alerts/suppressions`. Every action below is a button on the window's row.

## Before you start

- Ending, enabling and disabling need permission to operate suppression windows; duplicating needs permission to create them; archiving and restoring need permission to archive them. Buttons your role cannot use are greyed out.

## Steps

1. The work finished early: press **End now**. The window's end time becomes now and alerts resume. Only an active window can be ended.
2. Keep the window but switch it off: press **Disable**. It mutes nothing until you press **Enable**.
3. Reuse it for the next maintenance visit: press **Duplicate**. Nova saves a copy named after the original with "copy" added and opens it in the **Edit suppression window** drawer.
4. Retire it: press **Archive**. Nova asks "Archive suppression?" and explains that the window leaves active lists but stays in the audit history and on any incident that referenced it. Confirm with **Archive suppression**.
5. Bring an archived window back: change the **Visibility** filter to show archived windows, then press **Restore**.
6. Change its times, scope or reason: press **Edit**. The **Edit suppression window** drawer opens. Add a **Change reason** so the audit history says why.

## What you see

- The row's badge reads the window's current state (upcoming, active, expired or archived) next to the status you set.
- After **End now** the row shows the new end time. After **Archive** the row disappears until you show archived windows.
- An archived window's drawer reads "This suppression is archived. Restore it before saving edits or re-enabling the window."

## If something looks different

- **End now** is greyed out: the window is not active right now. It has not started, has already ended, or is disabled.
- **Edit** and **Restore** are the only buttons on a row: the window is archived.
- Every button is greyed out: your role can view windows but not change them.

[[route:/critical-alerts/suppressions|Open Suppressions]]