Every time you create and send a campaign in Mailchimp, as well as the email, an online archive of that campaign is automatically created – which is how people who want to see the email “in their browser” can view it.

The merge tag *|ARCHIVE|* is used to link to this page in a specific campaign (so if you use a link in your header or footer for this, this is where the link goes when clicked).

However, certain aspects of the email, such as personalised salutations or promotional codes with an expiration date, may not be suitable for public display in the archive.

Which is where the *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* merge tag comes in…

The *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* merge tag in Mailchimp is a conditional merge tag that allows users to hide specific content in their email campaigns when viewed as an online archive.

To use this feature, simply include the *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* merge tag when creating a campaign:

*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*

This tag is used in conjunction with the *|END:IF|* merge tag to specify the content that should be hidden.

The merge tag works by determining whether or not the email has been viewed in the online archive.

For example, you can use the merge tag in your footer:

*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE |*I just want this text to be seen in the email and not the archived browser version*| END:IF|*

If the email is viewed as a standard email in an email program, the content between |IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE| and |END:IF| is shown.

However, the content between these tags will be hidden if the email is viewed in the archive.

For example, a user could use the |IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE| merge tag to hide personalised salutations and unsubscribe links in the online archive while keeping them visible in the email campaign itself.

This allows the user to protect their subscribers’ privacy while also complying with legal requirements such as CAN-SPAM.