To clean up your inbox without deleting your Gmail messages, you can archive or mute the messages.
Learn how archive & mute work
The “All Mail” section displays messages that you archive or mute.
- Archive:
- The message comes back to your inbox when someone replies to it.
- Mute:
- The message is labeled as "Muted."
- New messages in the thread skip your inbox.
- You still receive the message in your inbox if:
- The message is sent to you and no one else.
- The message is sent to a Google Group where you’re a member.
- Someone adds you to the “To” or “Cc” fields in the message.
Archive a message
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Open the message you want to archive.
- At the top, click Archive
.
Tips:
- To archive multiple messages, click the box next to each message
Archive
- To archive a message with keyboard shortcuts, press E. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.
Find archived messages
Important: When you search in Gmail, your results include archived messages. Learn more about search in Gmail.
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- On the left, click More.
- Click All Mail.
Move archived messages to your inbox
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Find the archived message.
- Next to the message, check the box.
- At the top, click Move to Inbox
.
Mute or unmute messages
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Open a message.
- At the top, click More
Tips:
- At the top of the Gmail search box, to find all messages with the “Muted” label, enter
is:muted. - To mute a message with keyboard shortcuts, press M. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.