How to Hand Off a Website Archive to a Client (Agency Guide)

You finished the build, the client signed off, the invoice went out. Six months later they email: “What did the old About page say before the rewrite?” — or worse, a dispute over what was actually delivered. If all you have is the live site (now changed) and a folder of Figma files, you’re reconstructing from memory.

A handoff archive solves this: a complete, dated snapshot of the site exactly as you delivered it. It’s cheap to produce, it looks professional, and more than once it’s the thing that settles a “you never built X” conversation. Here’s what to hand off and how.

What a handoff archive actually is

It’s a captured copy of the delivered website — every page, as it looked on the delivery date — in a portable format the client can keep and open without your involvement. Not the codebase, not the CMS export: the rendered site, the thing the client and their customers actually see.

The two useful forms:

A single combined PDF of the whole site — the most shareable and readable; drop it in the project folder or attach it to the handoff email.
Per-page images (PNG/JPG) in a ZIP — when exact pixel appearance matters, or the client wants individual assets.

Why it’s worth doing on every project

Proof of delivery. A dated archive is objective evidence of what you shipped — invaluable if scope or “it used to work” questions come up later.
A reference for the client. Content, structure, and copy they can consult after you’ve moved on, without pinging you.
A pre-redesign baseline. When the site changes (by you or the next agency), you both have the “before.” For anything that might become a formal record, capture it defensibly — see our guide to website archiving for legal purposes.
Clean offboarding. Handing over a tidy archive reads as professional and reduces “can you send me…” follow-ups months later.
Your own portfolio. Sites get redesigned or taken down; an archive preserves your work for case studies even after the live version is gone.

How to create the handoff archive

Saving pages one at a time doesn’t scale — a real site has dozens of URLs. You want a tool that crawls the site and captures every page in one pass. (For the full method and other options, see how to archive a website.)

Using Site2pdf.online:

Enter the site URL. It scans the internal links and lists every page it finds.
Review the pages. Deselect anything that shouldn’t be in the handoff (staging leftovers, thank-you pages), and reorder so the PDF reads in a sensible order.
Pick the format. A single combined PDF for the handoff document, or a ZIP of per-page images if the client wants assets.
Generate and download, then drop it in the project folder and attach it to the handoff.

Because it renders each page in a real browser, JavaScript-heavy pages, sliders, and lazy-loaded images come through as they actually appear — not as empty templates.

What to include in the handoff package

Alongside the archive itself, a tidy handoff usually contains:

The site archive (combined PDF, and/or image ZIP).
The capture date — write it on the file name and in the email (“site as delivered, 3 May 2026”).
The live URL at time of delivery.
A one-line note of what’s covered (“all public pages; excludes the members area behind login”).

Keep it to what the client can actually use. The codebase, credentials, and CMS access are a separate part of the handoff — the archive is the human-readable record of the result.

Best practices

Capture at sign-off, before anything changes. The archive should reflect exactly what was approved.
Note what’s excluded. Login-only pages and paywalled areas won’t be in an automated crawl — say so, and capture those manually if they matter.
Keep your own copy. Store the archive in your project records, not just the client’s folder — it’s your proof too.
Label with date and version. “v1-launch” beats “final-final-2”. If you redesign later, capture a fresh archive and keep both.
Confirm completeness. Open the archive and check the pages that matter came through before you send it.

FAQ

What should an agency hand off at the end of a website project?

Beyond access and code, hand off a rendered archive of the delivered site — a dated, complete snapshot the client can keep and read without you. A single combined PDF of every page is the most useful form; add a ZIP of per-page images if they want assets. It’s proof of what you shipped and a reference the client can use after you’ve moved on.

How do I archive an entire client site at once?

Use a tool that crawls the site’s internal links and captures every page in one pass, rather than saving pages manually. Site2pdf.online takes the site URL, lets you review/reorder the pages, and exports the whole site as one PDF (or a ZIP of images).

Why keep a snapshot of the site as delivered?

Because the live site changes. A dated archive gives you and the client an objective “as delivered” record — useful for scope questions, a pre-redesign baseline, offboarding, and preserving your work for your portfolio even if the site is later changed or taken down.

What about pages behind a login?

Automated crawlers only see logged-out content, so members areas and paywalled pages won’t be captured automatically. Note their exclusion in the handoff, and capture those pages manually (logged in, saved as PDF) if they need to be in the record.

Make it part of your delivery checklist

A handoff archive takes minutes and quietly prevents a category of future headaches — scope disputes, “what did it used to say,” lost portfolio pieces. Capture the site at sign-off, label it with the date, hand the client a clean PDF, and keep a copy for yourself. To archive an entire client site as one document in a couple of clicks, site2pdf.online does it in a single pass.