Seeing unimportant messages in your Gmail can be a real eyesore. It’s good to know that Gmail has archive feature to organize messages without deleting them. You can also unarchive any messages and get them back in your inbox whenever needed. Luckily, how to unarchive Gmail is a simple task.
Archiving feature offers a great way to keep your inbox neat and tidy. With built-in archiving tools, it allows you to organize Gmail in a few steps. Scroll through this page and learn more how to archive and unarchive Gmail on desktop or mobile apps.
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What is Archive and Unarchive in Gmail?
Archive feature in Gmail allows you to preserve unimportant messages while keeping inbox organized. Rather than deleting email messages and moving them to the trash can, archived messages are moved to another folder. Thus, you still get access to archived email.
Besides having access to view archived email, those messages can be retrieved and moved back in your inbox. Thanks to Gmail’s archive feature that enables you to get them back whenever you want it. Unlike items moved to trash that will be automatically deleted in 30 days, archived messages will stay.
This means your email messages won’t go anywhere unless you unarchive them. You will be able to find archived email in the All Mail folder on the left panel of your Gmail. Open the folder and you will see a list of messages you have archived.
Interestingly, when someone replies to a message you have archived, the conversation will automatically appear in your inbox. No need to worry about missing important messages because Gmail won’t let you miss a thing.
How to Archive Gmail Emails
Before learning how to unarchive Gmail, you should know how to archive them. Using Gmail’s archive feature is not a difficult task. Thanks to a built-in archive tool that allows you to preserve messages in one click. Whether you are working with desktop or mobile app, archiving Gmail won’t give you a headache.
But if you need a little help to do it, follow clear instructions below.
Using Desktop
Many users prefer accessing Gmail from the desktop’s browser because it is much simpler—everything appears clearly on the screen. And if you belong to this group, try these steps to archive unimportant email messages.
- Go to Gmail from your favorite browser.
- Sign in to your Gmail account if needed.
- Locate the email message you wish to archive. Click to open.
- In the toolbar, click the archive button with a folder and arrow icon.
- If you wish to archive multiple messages at a time, check the box next to email messages and click the archive button.
Selected messages will be moved to the All Mail folder. To check them, navigate your cursor to the left panel and scroll down. Click on All Mail label and see if messages are successfully archived.
Using Mobile App
Android and iOS users can archive Gmail messages in a few steps. Just as with the desktop version, you can easily find the archive button above the message and move them to the All Mail label. Follow the instructions below:
- Run Gmail app on your Android or iOS.
- Sign in if you have signed out in the previous session.
- Find a message you want to archive and tap to open.
- Tap the Archive button above the message. It comes with a folder and arrow icon.
- If you need to archive multiple messages, tap and hold each message then tap the Archive button.
Just to make sure if your messages have been moved to All Mail folder, go to the left panel and scroll down to the All Mail folder. Tap to open and check your messages.
How to Unarchive Messages in Gmail
For whatever reasons, you may need to retrieve archived messages and get them back in your inbox. Don’t worry! Gmail is packed with unarchive feature that enables you to achieve this goal. Only with one click, you will be able to move those messages to the inbox.
How to unarchive Gmail via desktop’s browser and mobile apps is quite similar. All you need is to get into the All Mail folder and work it out.
On the Desktop
You will need to work from desktop’s browser to get this done. Open your favorite browser and go to Gmail. If you have logged out in the previous session, you will also need to log back in. Then, follow instructions below:
- Go to the left panel of your Gmail.
- Scroll down until you find the All Mail folder. Click to open.
- Select archived messages you want to retrieve. If you want to unarchive a message and check the content before proceeding, click to open the message.
- Click Move to inbox in the toolbar. It is above your email message with a box and arrow icon.
- Just in case you need to retrieve multiple messages, check the boxes to the left of the sender’s name and click Move to inbox.
Messages you have selected will be moved to the inbox. However, they won’t appear on the top of the list. Instead, it will be sorted by its incoming date. So if it is an old message, you will need to scroll through pages or use search feature to save time.
On the Mobile Apps
You can also unarchive Gmail from Android and iOS. There is a built-in tool that enables you to move email messages back to the inbox. Here is how to do it:
- Open Gmail app, login to your Gmail account.
- Go to the left panel and scroll down to find All Mail.
- Tap the email message you want to move and click to open.
- Tap More option with three-dot icon and select Move to Inbox.
- As an alternative, tap and hold multiple messages and tap More option.
- Choose Move to Inbox.
Archived messages will be retrieved to your inbox. Go to inbox and check if your messages are available in this folder. But please note that your messages will be positioned based on their incoming date.
How to Mute Gmail Messages
Besides the archive feature, Gmail also has a mute feature. This is especially useful if you don’t want to be disturbed by a specific conversation. When a message is muted, any replies won’t appear in your inbox. However, you can still find it using the search feature.
The following steps will help you mute or ignore Gmail messages:
- Open your Gmail and login if needed.
- Check on the box next to a conversation you want to mute.
- Click More option with a three-dot icon.
- Select Mute.
The conversation will be muted so you won’t see any replies in your inbox. The conversation will also disappear from the inbox.
Now that you know how to unarchive Gmail, it becomes easier to organize email messages. Or if you want to get rid of a conversation without labeling it as spam, mute feature can be a great alternative.
