1. A method running under a processor, the method comprising: receiving a document and identifying a dynamic component of the document, wherein the dynamic component comprises at least one time-varying property that changes over time, wherein the document comprises electronic content; detecting a plurality of states of the dynamic component, wherein each state of the plurality of states corresponds to a new version of the document that results from subsequent changes to the document; associating a set of validity parameters with each state of the plurality of states, the set of validity parameters defining a validity period for the state; and archiving the document by archiving the plurality of states and the set of validity parameters corresponding to each state instead of archiving each new version of the document that corresponds to each state of the plurality of states.