How to access my archive in gmail

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Use the "All Mail" view to find archived emails in Gmail. You can search and use advanced filters to find specific archived emails and exclude locations like your inbox

Deleting emails from your Gmail account is final — they’re lost forever once you empty your trash folder. If you want to hide emails, rather than delete them, you can archive the messages instead. This allows you to find and retrieve the emails at a later date.

Update, 7/18/22: We’ve reviewed this article for accuracy and can confirm it still works on the latest versions of Gmail.

How to Archive Emails in Gmail

To archive an email in Gmail, you simply need to select an email (or multiple emails) and then click the Archive button.

When you select emails on the Gmail website, the “Archive” button appears in the menu directly above your list of emails.

In the Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, or Android, tap the Archive button in the top menu that appears. The Archive button has the same design as the button shown on the Gmail website.

Any email you archive will disappear from your main Gmail inbox, including from any of the focused categories you might have.

You’ll still be able to view them under any separate folder you create using Gmail labels, however.

Using the All Mail Label to Find Archived Emails in Gmail

As we’ve mentioned, archived emails disappear from the typical Gmail view. One option to find archived emails in Gmail is to switch to the “All Mail” folder view.

This will list all of your Gmail emails in one, long list, including priority emails, as well as any emails that have been categorized automatically. You can view this list by clicking the “All Mail” view label in the left Gmail menu on the Gmail website.

To do this in the Gmail app, tap the hamburger menu icon in the top-left corner. From here, scroll down and tap the “All Mail” label.

There’s an obvious downside to this, especially if you have a large number of emails—the sheer number of emails you’ll have to go through. This option is fine if you’ve only recently archived an email, but you might need to use the Gmail search bar to specifically locate archived emails instead.

Finding Archived Emails in Gmail Using the Search Bar

Unfortunately, there’s no “archive” label you can use to search for when you’re using the Gmail search bar at the top of the Gmail website or in the Gmail app.

You’ll need to know the topic, sender, or subject of your archived email to search for it manually. Alternatively, you can use advanced Gmail search filters to search for emails that aren’t in typical folders like your inbox folder, sent folder, and drafts folder.

RELATED: How to Use Gmail's Advanced Search Features & Create Filters

In many cases, this should list your archived emails. To do this, type “-in:Sent -in:Draft -in:Inbox” in the search bar. You can do this in either the Gmail app or on the Gmail website.

You can also add the “has:nouserlabels” to your Gmail search query to remove any emails that already have a category label. If they’re categorized, you can view the email in your labeled folder, even if they’ve been archived.

This method isn’t foolproof, but it should help you narrow down your archived emails if you’re struggling to find them using a basic search or in the “All Mail” folder.

So in effect, archiving lets you tidy up your inbox by moving messages from your inbox into your All Mail label, so you don't have to delete anything. It's like moving something into a filing cabinet for safekeeping, rather than putting it in the trash can. Or in Outlook Parlance, moving it off the server onto your local hard drive. HUSD's Gmail-based inboxes are so large, you shouldn't need to!

Any message you've archived can be found by clicking the "All Mail" label on the left side of your Gmail page. You can also find a message you've archived by clicking on any other labels you've applied to it, or by searching for it.

And something cool ... when someone responds to a message you've archived, the conversation containing that message will reappear in your inbox automatically!

1. In your inbox, select the message by checking the box next to the sender's name.
2. Click the Archive button in the toolbar above your message list. 
   
   
   (If you have a message open, you can also archive it by clicking the Archivebutton above the message.

To move an archived message back to your inbox, follow these steps:

1. Click All Mail. (If you don't see All Mail along the left side of your Gmail page, click the More drop-down menu at the bottom of your labels list.)
2. Check the box next to the sender's name.
3. Click the Move to Inbox button.

If you'd like an option to automatically archive messages after you've sent replies:

1. Click the gear icon and choose Settings.
2. Locate the Send and Archive setting and choose the option you prefer.
3. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Once you enable the setting, you'll see a new button at the bottom of the page when you reply to messages. When you're done writing, click Send & Archive to send the reply and archive the previous message in one step, or click Send to send your reply but leave the original message in your inbox.

How do I find archived emails in Gmail?