What is the Archive Feature on Android?
The archive feature on Android allows users to remove emails from their inbox without permanently deleting them. When an email is archived, it is moved out of the inbox into a separate archive folder. This helps free up space in the inbox by getting rid of old or unimportant messages. However, archived emails can still be searched and retrieved from the archive folder if needed later on.
Archiving is useful for managing an overflowing inbox. Rather than deleting emails that you might want to reference later, you can archive them. This removes clutter from the inbox while still preserving the messages in case you ever need them again. The archive feature helps strike a balance between keeping every email forever and deleting emails that you might regret removing.
Overall, the archive capability gives Android users more flexibility in organizing their inboxes. It’s an efficient way to clear out old emails and keep your inbox uncluttered, without having to permanently delete content.
Accessing the Archive Folder
The Archive folder in Gmail is located within the Gmail app itself. To access the Archive folder on an Android device:
1. Open the Gmail app on your Android phone or tablet.
2. In the left side menu, scroll down and tap on “Archive”. This is a dedicated folder that contains all of your archived emails.
3. You can also search for archived emails from the main inbox view. Just tap on the search bar at the top and type “is:archived” to view only archived messages.
So the Archive folder lives within the Gmail app itself, and you can easily navigate there by tapping on it in the left menu. The “Archive” folder contains all emails you have archived for easy access later.
Archiving Emails Manually
To manually archive emails on an Android device, start by opening the Gmail app and navigating to the inbox. Locate the email message you want to archive and tap on the sender’s profile image or icon to bring up a menu. At the top of this menu, tap “Archive” to move the selected email to your Archive folder (Google Support).
Once an email is archived, it disappears from your inbox and can be found in the Archive folder. To view your archived emails, open the side navigation menu and tap on “Archive”. This will display all messages you have archived for easy access and review (Goldy Arora). Manually archiving emails allows you to remove clutter from your inbox while still retaining the messages for future reference if needed.
Automatically Archiving Emails
Gmail allows you to set up rules to automatically archive emails based on criteria you specify. This can help keep your inbox decluttered by automatically moving older emails or emails from certain senders to your Archive folder.
To enable auto-archiving in Gmail:
- Open Gmail on your computer and click the Gear icon in the top right.
- Select “Settings.”
- Click on the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab.
- Scroll down and click “Create a new filter.”
- Choose your auto-archive criteria such as “Older than 30 days” or “From:[sender’s email].”
- Check the box next to “Archive it.”
- Click “Create filter” to save your auto-archive rule.
Gmail will now automatically move emails matching your criteria from your inbox to your Archive folder. You can create multiple auto-archive rules to keep your inbox organized.
Source: https://clean.email/automate-email-tasks/gmail-auto-archive
Searching Archived Emails
Emails that have been archived on Android can still be searched just like regular emails in your inbox. When you do a search in the Gmail app, it will automatically search through both your inbox and your archive folder at the same time.
This means archived messages will appear alongside normal inbox results when searching. You don’t have to go specifically into your archive folder in order to find old emails you have archived. The Gmail search tool is intelligent enough to include archived results by default.
So if you need to find an old email that you archived weeks or months ago, you can simply do a search for it just like you would any other email and it should pop up if it matches the search query. The ability to still search through archived emails makes the archive feature much more useful.
According to Google’s Gmail help documentation, when you search in Gmail on Android, your results include both regular inbox emails plus any messages you have archived.
Unarchiving Emails
If you want to restore an archived email back to your inbox, you can easily unarchive it in just a few taps:
Open the Gmail app and tap the hamburger menu in the top left corner. Then tap on ‘All mail’ to view your archived emails.
Locate the email you want to unarchive and select it by tapping the checkbox icon next to it. This will highlight the email.
Once selected, tap the ‘Move to inbox’ icon in the top right. This is usually an arrow pointing left.
The email will now be moved out of the Archive folder and back into your main inbox. According to this source, when you unarchive an email in Gmail, it will return to the inbox in its original location based on the timestamp.
Permanently Deleting Archives
When you no longer need an email that has been archived, you can permanently delete it from the Archive folder so that it is gone for good. Unlike when you delete an email from your inbox, when you delete an email from your Archive folder, it cannot be recovered.
According to WikiHow, to permanently delete an archived email on Android:
- Open the Gmail app and tap the hamburger menu icon in the top left
- Select All Mail to view all inboxes including the Archive folder
- Tap on the email in the Archive folder that you want to permanently delete
- Tap the trash icon to delete the email
The email will now be permanently deleted from your Archive folder and cannot be recovered. This is an irreversible action, so only permanently delete archived emails that you are 100% sure you no longer need.
Archive Folder Size Limit
There is no size limit for the Archive folder in Gmail on Android. All archived emails are stored until the user manually deletes them.
Unlike the overall 15 GB storage limit shared between Gmail, Drive, and Photos, the Archive folder itself does not count towards the storage quota. Users can archive as many emails as they want and they will remain archived indefinitely without impacting the overall storage allocation.
Archiving emails essentially removes them from the inbox without deleting them. The archived emails still exist in the Archive folder, but do not take up any additional storage space. Only when a user permanently deletes archived emails will storage be freed up.
So the Archive folder acts as an unlimited separate storage area for emails the user wants to remove from the inbox but still keep accessible if needed. As Google notes, archiving does not remove emails from counting towards the overall storage limit. But the Archive folder itself has unlimited capacity.
Backing up Archive Folder
Gmail allows you to easily back up your Archive folder along with the rest of your account. When you enable backup for your Gmail account on your Android device, it will automatically save a copy of your Archive folder to your Google Account.
You can also manually export just your Archive folder separately if you wish. To do this, open the Gmail app and tap the hamburger menu in the top left. Go to Settings > Export > Export Archive. This will allow you to save a copy of your Archive folder contents to your device storage or Google Drive.
Backing up your Archive folder ensures you have a copy of your archived messages in case you ever need to restore them. It also lets you clear space in Gmail by deleting messages, knowing you have a backup available if needed. Regularly backing up your Archive folder is recommended to avoid losing important archived emails.
Alternative Archive Options
While the built-in Archive feature on Android provides a simple way to archive emails, there are some other options to consider:
A few third-party email archiving apps for Android include Keepit, Jatheon Archiving Suite, and MailJerry. These apps allow archiving emails into searchable online storage. However, most require a paid subscription.
The simplest alternative is to use Gmail’s native archive feature. On Gmail, archiving an email moves it out of the inbox into the All Mail folder. This keeps emails tidy while still accessible in the All Mail search. The only downside is storage space is still consumed.
For long-term archiving, exporting emails to another format may be preferable. Options include exporting to PDF, EML, or offline storage like an external hard drive.