How To Retrieve Archived Emails in Gmail?

In Gmail, you can use the “Archive” function to store messages and important attachments without filling up your inbox.
In this article, we discuss what archived emails are, how to retrieve archived emails in Gmail, and frequently asked questions about archived emails.

What are Archived emails in Gmail?

Archived emails are those messages that the receiver has marked for moving into the archive folder of the service. The archive tag simply stores an email along with other messages in the same folder without erasing them or letting them stay in the inbox. You can access archived emails by clicking the icon “All Mail” and further searching among them by sender’s details and delivery date.

Archiving is especially useful for those who have very full inboxes because it allows users to put old or irrelevant emails in a separate location rather than just deleting them or leaving them under other labels. You can locate and access your archived messages very easily and quickly. Gmail also enables you to archive emails the moment they arrive to save space. These emails go to safe folders where you can store them as long as you want. When you archive an email, it goes under the “All Mail” label in Gmail for future reference.

Tip: Another option is to mute an email. Muting removes the message from the inbox permanently, even if it gets a reply, without deleting it.

A step-by-step guide to retrieve archived emails in Gmail.

Emails are kept in the archives until you either delete them or move them into your inbox or someone replies to them. If someone responds to one of the archived emails, it goes straight into your inbox. Follow these steps to retrieve archived emails in Gmail:

1. Open your Gmail account.

Sign in to your account by using your Gmail email address and password. You may log in to your account using a browser either on your computer or using your smartphone with the Gmail app. Log into Gmail and on the left-hand side, locate the hamburger menu which opens email labels.

Tip: There is no “Archived” label on the Gmail website or in the Gmail app where you can find all your archived messages.

2. Navigate the Gmail dashboard

Want to see your archived messages? First, go to the “All Mail” folder. When you are using a web browser, the “All Mail” folder is on the left side of the dashboard. If you cannot see the icon that says “All Mail” right away, you can click on a tab that reads “More” near the bottom of the menu. There will be an “All Mail” label. Click it to see all the messages in your Gmail, even archived or in the trash. The archived emails include those which are not in the inbox but still in your Gmail account.

In the Gmail application:

In the Gmail app, scroll down the main menu down to the “All Mail” tab and click it.

Tip: If keyboard shortcuts are turned on, you can also press e to archive an email you’re looking at.

3. Search for archived emails within “All Mail”

To locate an archived email, select the label “All Mail,” and scroll down the messages until you find your message. Or you can use Gmail’s search bar to look for your message. You can further narrow the search by putting the sender’s email address in the search field or widening it using the Advanced search icon on the right of the search bar. You can input details such as:

• Date sent or received
• Subject line
• Keywords in the message
• File size
• Sender
• Recipient
• Whether the message has an attachment

Firstly, if you are unsure of these details, then, click on the search bar. Next, type one or two words that you know appear in the email you are seeking. Subsequently, click “Enter.” Consequently, the more words you enter, the fewer results you get. Therefore, start with as few words as possible and, finally, expand to narrow the results. Ultimately, Gmail usually displays all messages that contain the words you type.

In the Gmail app

If you’re accessing your email through the app, it lists search results and messages by date received, with the newest emails at the top of the list. Rather than scrolling through hundreds of messages to find the archived one, click on the “All Mail” tab, and search for archived emails within that folder.

Tip: It can be hard to tell at first glance which emails are archived in your “All Mail” inbox. An archived email will not have the “Inbox” label before its subject line.

4. Move the archived email to your inbox

To remove the email from the archives, click the “Move to Inbox” option at the top of the dashboard. You can now access the email message in your inbox.

In the Gmail app

To retrieve an archived email you’ve located on the Gmail app, click the “Archive” tag to remove the label. Open the archived message and click on the “Move to Inbox” option to transfer the archived message to the inbox.

How to delete archived messages in Gmail

Both archived and deleted messages disappear from your inbox. The difference is an archived email is moved to the archive or “All Mail” folder, while a deleted message moves to the “Trash” folder. In case you do not need some of the emails to be so high on the list, you can delete or archive them, depending on whether the message is to be accessed in the future.
If you do not need an archived email anymore, it is possible to delete it permanently. These are the steps for deleting it:

1. Find the archived e-mail inside of “All Mail.”
2. Either click the email or hover over the email with the cursor.
3. Click the “Delete” icon.

Tip: Since Gmail offers enough storage to keep thousands of emails, delete emails only if you are sure you won’t need them in the future. Deleted emails are permanently deleted after 30 days, but archived emails are kept forever. 

Frequently asked questions

How do I archive emails?

If you want to clean up your inbox without deleting your emails, you can archive them. Your emails will be moved to a label called “All Mail” when you archive them.

Here’s how to archive emails on your computer, Android or iPhone and iPad:

Computer

1. Go to Gmail
2. Point to the message.
3. On the right, click Archive.

Android

1. Open the Gmail app
2. Open the message and tap Archive.
3. iPhone and iPad

iPhone and iPad

1. Open the Gmail app
2. Open the message and tap Archive.
3. To archive multiple messages, tap the sender’s profile image next to the messages you want to archive and tap Archive.

Tip: If you selected the swipe Archive archive action in your Gmail app settings, you can swipe the message to the left of your inbox.

Why archive emails in Gmail?

Email archiving allows users to declutter their inboxes without deleting important messages. Archiving messages is good email management because it helps organize your inbox and separates the messages you currently need from those that might be useful at some point.
For example, you just completed a project and want to relieve your inbox of the hundreds of emails associated with it. You can archive those emails to free up space in your inbox. Archiving is preferable to deleting these types of messages because you might need to reference them in the future.

How long does Gmail hold onto archived emails?

Archived emails are kept in your Gmail account indefinitely. They won’t disappear unless you delete them.

How do I avoid accidental archiving?

It can be easy to archive a message accidentally. Avoid this by taking the following precautions:

• The archive swipe motion can be changed in the settings of your Gmail app. Go to “General settings” then “Swipe actions.”
• Watch for any confirmation messages saying that an email has been archived. This message is usually paired with an Undo button.

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