diff --git a/code/execution/java/nu/marginalia/actor/task/ConvertAndLoadActor.java b/code/execution/java/nu/marginalia/actor/task/ConvertAndLoadActor.java
index b508d84e..b4446199 100644
--- a/code/execution/java/nu/marginalia/actor/task/ConvertAndLoadActor.java
+++ b/code/execution/java/nu/marginalia/actor/task/ConvertAndLoadActor.java
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ public class ConvertAndLoadActor extends RecordActorPrototype {
                 if (rsp.state() != MqMessageState.OK)
                     yield new Error("Converter failed");
 
+                if (!shouldAutoClean()) {
+                    // If we're not auto-cleaning, we need to clean the NEW flag for the processed storage
+                    storageService.setFileStorageState(processedId, FileStorageState.UNSET);
+                    // (if we do auto-clean, we skip this step and purge the items after loading)
+                }
+
                 yield new Load(List.of(processedId));
             }
             case Load(List<FileStorageId> processedIds, long msgId) when msgId < 0 -> {
@@ -140,9 +146,20 @@ public class ConvertAndLoadActor extends RecordActorPrototype {
 
                 if (rsp.state() != MqMessageState.OK) {
                     yield new Error("Loader failed");
-                } else {
-                    cleanProcessedStorage(processedIds);
                 }
+
+                // If we're auto-cleaning, flag the processed files for deletion if they have the NEW flag,
+                // indicating they've recently been created.  We need to check this, so we don't delete archived
+                // stuff that's being loaded manually
+
+                if (shouldAutoClean()) {
+                    for (var id : processedIds) {
+                        if (FileStorageState.NEW.equals(storageService.getStorage(id).state())) {
+                            storageService.flagFileForDeletion(id);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
                 yield new Backup(processedIds);
             }
             case Backup(List<FileStorageId> processedIds) -> {
@@ -204,6 +221,16 @@ public class ConvertAndLoadActor extends RecordActorPrototype {
         return mqIndexConstructorOutbox.sendAsync(new CreateIndexRequest(index));
     }
 
+    private boolean shouldAutoClean() {
+        try {
+            return nodeConfigurationService.get(nodeId).autoClean();
+        }
+        catch (SQLException ex) {
+            logger.error("Error getting node configuration", ex);
+            return false; // safe dafault
+        }
+    }
+
 
     @Override
     public String describe() {
@@ -233,24 +260,5 @@ public class ConvertAndLoadActor extends RecordActorPrototype {
         this.nodeId = serviceConfiguration.node();
     }
 
-    private void cleanProcessedStorage(List<FileStorageId> processedStorageId) {
-        try {
-            var config = nodeConfigurationService.get(nodeId);
-
-            for (var id : processedStorageId) {
-                if (FileStorageState.NEW.equals(storageService.getStorage(id).state())) {
-                    if (config.autoClean()) {
-                        storageService.flagFileForDeletion(id);
-                    }
-                    else {
-                        storageService.setFileStorageState(id, FileStorageState.UNSET);
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        catch (SQLException ex) {
-            logger.error("Error in clean-up", ex);
-        }
-    }
 
 }