diff --git a/app/finders/group_descendants_finder.rb b/app/finders/group_descendants_finder.rb
index 3b891effd0c..33fb1bf0359 100644
--- a/app/finders/group_descendants_finder.rb
+++ b/app/finders/group_descendants_finder.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class GroupDescendantsFinder
   def initialize(current_user: nil, parent_group:, params: {})
     @current_user = current_user
     @parent_group = parent_group
-    @params = params
+    @params = params.reverse_merge(non_archived: true)
   end
 
   def execute
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class GroupDescendantsFinder
   end
 
   def projects_matching_filter
-    ProjectsFinder.new(current_user: current_user).execute
+    ProjectsFinder.new(current_user: current_user, params: params).execute
       .search(params[:filter])
       .where(namespace: all_descendant_groups)
   end
diff --git a/spec/finders/group_descendants_finder_spec.rb b/spec/finders/group_descendants_finder_spec.rb
index c1268a486cf..77401ba09a2 100644
--- a/spec/finders/group_descendants_finder_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/finders/group_descendants_finder_spec.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ describe GroupDescendantsFinder do
       expect(finder.execute).to contain_exactly(project)
     end
 
+    it 'does not include archived projects' do
+      _archived_project = create(:project, :archived, namespace: group)
+
+      expect(finder.execute).to be_empty
+    end
+
     context 'with a filter' do
       let(:params) { { filter: 'test' } }