Hierarchical archiving for Org-mode

org-archive-subtree-hierarchical.el

;; org-archive-subtree-hierarchical.el
;;
;; version 0.2
;; modified from https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2014-08/msg00109.html
;; modified from https://stackoverflow.com/a/35475878/259187

;; In orgmode
;; * A
;; ** AA
;; *** AAA
;; ** AB
;; *** ABA
;; Archiving AA will remove the subtree from the original file and create
;; it like that in archive target:

;; * AA
;; ** AAA

;; And this give you
;; * A
;; ** AA
;; *** AAA
;;
;; Install file to your include path and include in your init file with:
;;
;;  (require 'org-archive-subtree-hierarchical)
;;  (setq org-archive-default-command 'org-archive-subtree-hierarchical)
;;
(provide 'org-archive-subtree-hierarchical)
(require 'org-archive)

(defun org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--line-content-as-string ()
  "Returns the content of the current line as a string"
  (save-excursion
    (beginning-of-line)
    (buffer-substring-no-properties
     (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position))))

(defun org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--org-child-list ()
  "This function returns all children of a heading as a list. "
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    ;; this only works with org-version > 8.0, since in previous
    ;; org-mode versions the function (org-outline-level) returns
    ;; gargabe when the point is not on a heading.
    (if (= (org-outline-level) 0)
        (outline-next-visible-heading 1)
      (org-goto-first-child))
    (let ((child-list (list (org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--line-content-as-string))))
      (while (org-goto-sibling)
        (setq child-list (cons (org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--line-content-as-string) child-list)))
      child-list)))

(defun org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--org-struct-subtree ()
  "This function returns the tree structure in which a subtree
belongs as a list."
  (interactive)
  (let ((archive-tree nil))
    (save-excursion
      (while (org-up-heading-safe)
        (let ((heading
               (buffer-substring-no-properties
                (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position))))
          (if (eq archive-tree nil)
              (setq archive-tree (list heading))
            (setq archive-tree (cons heading archive-tree))))))
    archive-tree))

(defun org-archive-subtree-hierarchical ()
  "This function archives a subtree hierarchical"
  (interactive)
  (let ((org-tree (org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--org-struct-subtree))
        (this-buffer (current-buffer))
        (file (abbreviate-file-name
               (or (buffer-file-name (buffer-base-buffer))
                   (error "No file associated to buffer")))))
    (save-excursion
      (setq location org-archive-location
            afile (car (org-archive--compute-location
		                   (or (org-entry-get nil "ARCHIVE" 'inherit) location)))
            ;; heading (org-extract-archive-heading location)
            infile-p (equal file (abbreviate-file-name (or afile ""))))
      (unless afile
        (error "Invalid `org-archive-location'"))
      (if (> (length afile) 0)
          (setq newfile-p (not (file-exists-p afile))
                visiting (find-buffer-visiting afile)
                buffer (or visiting (find-file-noselect afile)))
        (setq buffer (current-buffer)))
      (unless buffer
        (error "Cannot access file \"%s\"" afile))
      (org-cut-subtree)
      (set-buffer buffer)
      (org-mode)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (while (not (equal org-tree nil))
        (let ((child-list (org-archive-subtree-hierarchical--org-child-list)))
          (if (member (car org-tree) child-list)
              (progn
                (search-forward (car org-tree) nil t)
                (setq org-tree (cdr org-tree)))
            (progn
              (goto-char (point-max))
              (newline)
              (org-insert-struct org-tree)
              (setq org-tree nil)))))
      (newline)
      (org-yank)
      (when (not (eq this-buffer buffer))
        (save-buffer))
      (message "Subtree archived %s"
               (concat "in file: " (abbreviate-file-name afile))))))

(defun org-insert-struct (struct)
  "TODO"
  (interactive)
  (when struct
    (insert (car struct))
    (newline)
    (org-insert-struct (cdr struct))))

(defun org-archive-subtree ()
  (org-archive-subtree-hierarchical)
  )

Oh, I finally found time to check your comment after almost a year... To be honest, I currently don't mind multiple newlines as I'm not working with archive too much. I'm archiving a lot, but almost never searching it for anything. Not sure on first glance where that new line is comming from but looks like I have redundant new lines too.

As for archive location, I have them in archive subfolder too, but if I remember correctly, it is coming from archive location in my case:

    (setq org-archive-location "~/org/archive/%s_archive::* Archived Tasks")

Subtrees are inserted in archive file automatically in exact place were they should be (the Archived Tasks heading is not added).

Hi kepi, thanks for sharing this script, I was looking exactly for something like that and, considering my newbiness to emacs orgmode, this was perfect!

I have a similar configuration to your example above but in my case is:

(setq org-archive-location "~/org/archive/archive.org::* From %s")

I was wandering if it would be possible to insert subtrees including the From %s heading?
In this way I can have one single archive file with the list of archived items grouped by original file name