When I am working with a stack of files there are often multiple groups of stapled together paper. If I remove all of the staples, I fundamentally change the way a person may experience the relationship between all those papers. Unless they are taking the time to examine staple holes to determine which group stopped where, those papers will be viewed as continuously linked. (I confess that I have at times looked at staple holes to determine the order of papers – it’s all in a day’s work for an archives detective).
In another example, say a stack of papers were stapled together, then another paper was stapled, then another group of papers was stapled when the project finished or someone found that last bit of related correspondence. As an archivist I may remove all of those staples. But as a user down the line I might wonder why this folder’s contents are in such chronological disarray. The staples can tell you a lot about how the information was collected and used.