--- title: "Where is the archive in Gmail? A quick guide with a simple answer" description: "If you're wondering where the archive is in Gmail, you're not alone. This quick guide will help you find the elusive Gmail archive folder in no time." image: "https://images.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/3ylbUcVuRlGVTZ085lwaqs/40806c2559b79644d4ea17c6a4e9451c/gmail-hero-neutral.png" --- # Where is the archive in Gmail? A quick guide with a simple answer If you're wondering where the archive is in Gmail, you're not alone. This quick guide will help you find the elusive Gmail archive folder in no time. Let's cut to the chase: in Gmail, your archive is anything that's not in your inbox and not in your trash. If you're looking for an official archive folder, you won't find it—at least, not under that name. Instead, you can access your archived emails under _All_**_ _**_Mail_.  The All Mail folder _is _Gmail's archive folder. Any emails you've chosen to archive from your main inbox (but that you weren't _quite_ ready to delete) will end up there. That's mostly everything you need to know, but let's get into a few more details. **Table of contents:** - [What does archive mean in Gmail?](#definition) - [How to access your Gmail archive](#access) - [How to search the archive folder](#search) - [How to archive an email in Gmail](#how) - [How do you undo an archive in Gmail?](#undo) - [Tips for using the archive function in Gmail](#tips) - [Automate Gmail with Zapier](#automate) - [Gmail archive FAQ](#faq) ## What does archive mean in Gmail? In Gmail, archiving means moving a message out of your inbox without deleting it. If the email you archive isn't labeled, it'll go to your _All Mail_ folder (Gmail's version of an archive). If the email is labeled, it'll still go to your _All Mail _folder, but you'll also be able to find it within that label in the Gmail sidebar. ### Gmail archive vs. delete When you delete a message in Gmail, it goes into your _Trash_ folder, and then it disappears forever after 30 days. (Tread lightly.) When you archive, it goes into your _All Mail _folder and lives there forever so you can always bring the receipts. ## How to access your Gmail archive If you're looking for the archive in Gmail, what you actually want is the _All Mail_** **folder. Since [Gemini for Gmail](https://vendors.selectsoftwarereviews.com/redirect/1767832546892x707334240001589200?p=1715808885462x244895206427328500) can't archive for you (yet), here's how to find the archive in Gmail. 1. Expand the **More** tab on the left side of the screen. 2. Scroll down, and you'll see the _All Mail_ folder right above Spam. Click to open it. This is where your archived messages live. 3. Archived emails will have their Archive buttons grayed out when you hover over them. ## How to search the archive folder Because of the way [Gmail's label system](https://zapier.com/blog/gmail-labels/) works, the _All Mail_ folder also includes every non-archived email from your main inbox. If you're nowhere near inbox zero, that means your "archive" will also include every email in your inbox.  If you only want to see emails that aren't also in your inbox, Gmail allows you to search the _All Mail_ folder for just archived emails.  1. From your _All Mail_ folder, click the search bar at the top and type or paste `NOT label:inbox`. This should exclude any main inbox emails from your search, leaving you with only archived messages. 2. To narrow your results, include a keyword before `NOT label:inbox`** **in the search bar, and hit Enter. As an example, you can search `Data NOT label:inbox`, and Gmail will display any archived emails you have that contain the term "data." If you archive as many emails as I do, keywords will be your best friend. ## How to archive an email in Gmail You have two options to archive an email: 1. Click the checkbox next to the email in your inbox, and then click the **Archive **button. 2. Open the email, and click the **Archive **button. If the email also has a label, it'll live under that label _and _in the _All Mail_ folder. ### How to mass archive email in Gmail To mass archive, you'll follow similar steps, but just select more emails. Here's how it works. 1. In your inbox, click the checkbox at the top of your list of messages. That will select all the messages on the page. 2. If there are more than 50 emails in your inbox and you want to archive all of them, click the hyperlinked text to **Select all X conversations in inbox**. 3. Click the **Archive** button, which looks like a folder with a down arrow. All those emails will now live in the _All Mail _folder; if any of them had a label, you'll be able to find them under their label as well. (If you just want to archive a few select emails, check the box next to only those emails and click **Archive**.) ## How do you undo an archive in Gmail? If you accidentally banish an email to the archive, you can kick it right back to your main inbox with just a couple of clicks.  1. Find the email in your _All Mail _folder. (If you just archived it, it should be at the top; otherwise, you can search for it.) 2. Select the email by clicking the checkbox** **to the left of the sender's name. 3. Click** **the **Move to Inbox **button near the top of the page to unarchive your message. This button also appears when you open an archived email, so you can always just search for the message from anywhere in Gmail and then click that button. ## Tips for using the archive function in Gmail Now that you know how archive works in Gmail, here are some tips to get the most out of the function. - If you [use Gmail as a to-do list](https://zapier.com/blog/gmail-to-do-list/), the archive feature is great for removing low- or no-priority emails from your inbox without actually deleting them. - You can archive an email thread even if you're expecting a response. Once a new reply comes in, Gmail will automatically unarchive the thread. - To help you stay organized, add additional labels to archived emails. That way they'll also live in a dedicated folder. - Using [Gmail filters](https://zapier.com/blog/gmail-filters/) allows you to [automatically archive messages](https://zapier.com/blog/automatically-label-emails-with-chatgpt/) that come from specific email addresses or meet specific criteria. ## Automate Gmail with Zapier Want to get the most out of Gmail? Zapier's no-code automations [connect Gmail with thousands of popular apps](https://zapier.com/apps/gmail/integrations), letting you do things like automatically send email alerts for leads that come in through [LinkedIn](https://zapier.com/blog/email-alerts-for-linkedin-ads/) and [Facebook Lead Ads](https://zapier.com/blog/set-up-auto-email-facebook-lead-ads/). You can build fully automated, AI-powered systems that automatically route leads, trigger personalized emails, and keep your CRM and inbox in sync. Learn more about [how to automate Gmail](https://zapier.com/blog/automate-gmail-with-zapier/), or try one of these pre-made templates. ## Gmail archive FAQ ### Is there an archive folder in Gmail? While there's no officially labeled archive folder in Gmail, archived messages can be found under _All Mail_. The _All Mail_ folder serves as Gmail's version of an archive folder (although it also contains mail from your inbox). ### Do archived emails get deleted? Unlike emails in the trash, archived emails in Gmail never get deleted. Messages you've archived can be restored to the main inbox at any point.  ### Where is archive in Gmail on an iPhone? On iPhone, archived mail is located in the _All Mail_ folder—just like on desktop. You can access it through the menu on the Gmail app. ### Can emails live in the Gmail archive and in a label folder? Yes! When you label an email and then archive it, it'll appear under that label's "folder" _and _in the archive. **Related reading:** - [How to schedule an email in Gmail](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-schedule-an-email-in-gmail/) - [How to set an out-of-office message in Gmail](https://zapier.com/blog/gmail-out-of-office/) - [A guide to putting your email to work, automatically](https://zapier.com/blog/email-by-zapier-guide/) - [Gmail automation ideas](https://zapier.com/blog/automate-gmail-with-zapier/) - [How to send personalized emails in Gmail with mail merge](https://zapier.com/blog/gmail-mail-merge) _This article was originally published in April 2024. The most recent update was in October 2025._