What Is Auto Archiving and Why You Should Use It?
Auto archiving is a feature that allows you to automatically move emails from your inbox to your Archive folder, where they can stay for as long as you want to.
Here are several reasons why you should automatically archive certain messages:
- Keep your inbox organized: Auto archiving helps you keep your mailbox organized by moving emails that you don't need to act on immediately out of your Inbox and into your Archive folder.
- Save time: By automatically archiving emails that don't require your immediate attention, you can save time and focus on more important tasks.
- Easily find important emails: When you archive an email, it's still stored in your Gmail account, so you can easily find it later if you need to.
- Reduce stress: A cluttered inbox can be overwhelming and stressful. Auto archiving helps you maintain a clean inbox and reduces stress.
- Compliance: Some industries or organizations have regulations regarding email retention. Auto-archiving can help you automatically comply with those rules by preserving messages for as long as you need.
Essentially, Gmail auto archive lets you keep your inbox clutter-free and easily find important emails later.
Good to know: The main difference between archive and delete in Gmail lies in the visibility and longevity of your emails. Archiving an email removes it from your inbox but retains it in your account. On the other hand, deleting an email moves it to the Trash, where it's kept for 30 days before being permanently deleted.
How to Auto Archive Email in Gmail
Now that you know what the purpose of the Gmail auto archive feature is, it's time for us to explain how to auto archive emails in Gmail using its native features.
How to Auto Archive in Gmail on the Web
Here’s a step-by-step guide on setting up auto archiving in Gmail when using the web version:
- Visit gmail.com and log in to your account.
- Click the Show search options button on the right side of the search bar at the top.
- Specify your auto-archiving criteria in the fields provided. You can filter emails by sender, subject, keywords, and more to select exactly which emails should be archived automatically.
- Click on Create filter at the bottom of the search options.
- In the next window, check the Skip the Inbox (Archive it) option so that all emails matching your criteria are archived.
- It’s a good practice to also check the Never send it to Spam option to make sure that matching messages won’t be mistakenly classified as spam.
- Click on Create filter to finalize your settings.
By following these steps, emails that meet your specified criteria will be automatically archived, bypassing the inbox. This setup helps maintain a clutter-free inbox and focus your attention on the messages that need immediate action.
📌 Tip: To auto-delete emails in Gmail, you just need to select the Delete it option in step 5 instead of the Skip the Inbox (Archive it) option. Also, here you can find the ready-to-go guides on how to delete archived emails in Gmail.
Give Your Rules Names—It Saves Time Later
Auto Clean from Clean Email lets you name every rule—use it! Naming rules like “Move Paid Invoices” or “Mark Orders as Read” makes it easy to manage and understand your setup at a glance.
Try It for FREEHow to Automatically Archive on Mobile
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to set up a filter to automatically move emails to a folder in Gmail on mobile, nor can you change Gmail archive settings. However, you can manually archive emails on your smartphone or tablet (which is rather time-consuming), either individually when the email is opened, or in bulk by selecting the messages and tapping the Archive button at the top.
If you want to set up auto archiving on iOS or Android, you'll need to use a third-party tool like Clean Email, which allows you to set up email rules to automatically archive Gmail emails on your mobile device.
How to Automatically Archive Gmail Emails After X Days
Gmail filters work only on incoming messages, and there are no native filter options that allow specifying the number of days before emails are archived. For existing old emails, you’d need to rerun searches and bulk-archive manually, which can be very tedious.
To automate bulk archiving and schedule the frequency of the archive action, use Clean Email instead (don’t forget to toggle on Apply to existing messages).
Move Emails to Archive Automatically With Clean Email
As we've established, the ability to archive emails in Gmail is essential when it comes to maintaining an uncluttered inbox. Clean Email enhances the way users manage their inboxes by providing a suite of smart, automated tools that make archiving easier and more effective.
When you first connect Clean Email to your Gmail account, it works its magic by analyzing your messages and organizing them into Smart Folders, such as Top senders, Automated messages, Social notifications, Messages with a future date, and more. This makes it easy to find all messages you want to automatically archive (and it also makes it easy to find archived emails in Gmail by clicking the Archive folder).
Unlike the Gmail mobile app, which doesn't allow the creation of rules, Clean Email makes it possible to create rules to automatically archive emails in Gmail and unarchive them even on mobile devices.
Let’s say that you want to archive all emails from a specific sender and ensure that future messages from the same sender are automatically archived as well. Here’s what you need to do:
- Go to: https://app.clean.email/
- Sign in with your Gmail credentials.
- Go to Inbox or All Mail, locate the sender whose messages you want to archive, and click on the sender to select these emails.
- Click Create Rule on the blue toolbar at the bottom.
- Choose Archive as your desired action.
- Optionally, tell Clean Email to apply the action to existing messages as well.
- Click the Create Rule button to confirm.
The app also has a Cleaning Suggestions feature that makes it easier for users to identify emails that should be archived or deleted. This feature analyzes your action and senders’ actions, then recommends email bundles to archive or clean up.
It’s like a little nudge to remind you of emails you may have overlooked or subscriptions you may no longer need.
How to Turn Off Auto Archive in Gmail (via Clean Email)
Once you create an Archive it filter on Gmail, you can’t pause it. If you want to stop archiving incoming emails, you’ll need to delete the filter you created, along with all the parameters you have set for that particular filter. If you want to resume automatic archiving, you’d have to create a new filter and set the parameters again.
With Clean Email, though, you can pause a rule you have created without having to delete it. This makes it easier to rerun auto-archiving for specific types of emails.
Here is how to turn off auto archive in Gmail using Clean Email:
- Select Auto Clean in the left sidebar to see the active rules.
- Click the toggle next to the rule you want to turn off.
As you can see, Clean Email gives you the flexibility to pause rules instead of deleting them (something Gmail doesn't offer), but you can, of course, also delete them completely if you're sure that you won't need them in the future.
You can get started with Clean Email for free and use it to archive up to 1,000 messages. The free version also lets you try all paid features for 14 days, including its powerful Unsubscriber, which can prevent annoying subscription emails from finding their way into your inbox, and Screener, which intercepts all messages coming from new senders and keeps them quarantined for your review.
Organize Once, Let Auto Clean Do the Rest
Sort a bunch of emails (like receipts) with a label and remove them from your inbox. Then save that as an Auto Clean rule—next time, it’s all done for you.
Try It for FREEWhy Is Gmail Automatically Archiving Emails?
Have you ever replied to an email in Gmail only to find that it has disappeared from your inbox? This can be a source of frustration and confusion for many users. The culprit is often a feature in Gmail designed to keep your inbox tidy by automatically archiving replied-to emails. It's easy to accidentally enable this setting without realizing it.
Here's how to change it back:
- Click on the settings gear icon in the upper right corner of your inbox.
- Choose See all settings to enter the full settings menu.
- Head over to the General tab.
- Scroll down to find the Send and Archive section.
- Select the Hide “Send & Archive” button in reply option.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Save Changes.
Disabling the Send & Archive button in the settings will also prevent automatic archiving when using shortcuts like Command + Return (or Ctrl + Enter on Windows).
Gmail vs. Clean Email Auto Archive
Gmail’s archive features are useful for basic archiving needs, but their limitations leave users no other recourse but to do everything else manually. On the other hand, Clean Email provides more flexibility and automation.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of their features to help you decide which one is ideal for your email management needs.
| Features/Capabilities | Gmail | Clean Email |
|---|---|---|
| Works on incoming mail? | Yes | Yes |
| Works on existing old mail? | No | Yes, can set bulk + recurring rules |
| Has mobile support for rule creation? | No | Yes, fully supported on Android and iOS |
| Can pause/resume rules? | No | Yes, can pause or restart archive rules in one click |
| Easy to use? | Yes, but requires manual filter setup | Yes, intuitive interface has guided steps |
Gmail Auto Archive - FAQs
Can Gmail automatically archive emails?
Yes, you can auto archive Gmail emails by setting up filters or using a third-party inbox organizer app like Clean Email.
Why is my Gmail automatically archiving?
If your Gmail is automatically archiving the emails you send to others, then the Send and Archive feature is most likely turned on. You can disable it by clicking “Hide “Send & Archive” button in reply” in Settings. It’s also possible that you have enabled an email filter to auto archive Gmail by date or some other parameter, so you should check that as well.
How do I stop Gmail from archiving messages?
To stop Gmail from automatically archiving messages, you need to learn how to delete auto archive filters in Gmail. Log in to your account and open all settings. Then go to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab. Delete any filters that archive your emails when they arrive.
How do I automatically archive old emails?
To automatically archive old emails in Gmail, create a filter for messages older than a certain date and then apply the "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)" action to these emails. Remember, this process needs to be periodically repeated as Gmail's filters primarily act on incoming emails.
