To unarchive a single object (which can be something like an array or dictionary that contains other object), such as loading your document, do:- (BOOL) loadDataRepresentation: (NSData *) data ofType: (NSString *) aType { // replace the moedl [group release]; group = [NSUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData: data]; [group retain]; // make any associations to hook the new data into your document return (YES); } // loadDataRepresentation