How to Unarchive Gmail
By Andrew Meer
While Gmail’s Archive feature enables you to preserve unimportant email messages without having to delete them, the lack of a separate folder for archived mail makes it confusing to find the messages that you want to retrieve. You can, however, enable Gmail’s All Mail view to gain access to your archived email, after which you can unarchive any messages that you may want to get back in your inbox.
Step 1
Sign in to your Gmail account.
Step 2
Expand the “More” side-tab, and then select “All Mail” to activate All Mail view. In All Mail view, you can see both the email messages in your inbox and those that are archived. Email messages already in your inbox have the “Inbox” tag next to the subject line, thus allowing you to instantly determine archived messages from those that aren't.
Step 3
Right-click the archived email message that you want to unarchive.
Step 4
Click “Move to Inbox” on the context menu to unarchive the email message.
References
Tips
- Unarchived email messages appear instantly in your inbox.
- Gmail also lets you unarchive multiple email messages at once. To perform this task, check the boxes next to each email message that you want to unarchive. Next, right-click any one of the selected messages, and then select “Move to Inbox.”
- If you want to unarchive your entire email archive at once, enable All Mail view and then click the "Select" button on the left side of your Gmail account. Click "All" on the drop-down menu, and then click the "Select all xx converstations in All Mail" link that appears above the selected messages. Click the "Move to Inbox" button that displays at the top of your Gmail account, and then click "OK" on the pop-up box to confirm.
Writer Bio
As an ardent tech fan, Andrew Meer loves writing about the latest in computer hardware and software. Since 2006, he has worked as a level designer and programmer for various video game companies. Meer holds a Bachelor of Science in game and simulation programming from DeVry University, California.